Corrupt
by RoseWithThorns1
Summary: *COMPLETE WITH ANALYSIS BY AUTHOR* Exploration of the psyche of being Hermione. Her wants, her needs, and the realization that Draco was there all along. PLEASE R/R!*
1. Shedding Innocence

Chapter One  
  
Shedding Innocence  
  
She alone knew the twists and torments of a broken heart. It seemed as though time saw it  
fitting to have everyone enjoying themselves with someone else, except she. Her reflection examined  
it's moving partner with sad interest. A trickle of tears dripped slowly, perfectly tracing her cheek,  
into the crease of her lip, and facing a perilous fall unto her shirt from the precipice of her chin. She  
knew the tear's journey well- seeking a calm solace in its familiar path day in, day out. She also  
knew what it had been to try and emulate such a trip herself.  
  
It had been cold, and she feverish. Her aching limbs were forced to run at an accelerated  
pace to please their commander, however harsh her wish. Commencing at the grass-starved base of  
the tower's entrance, her inner-hatred began to collect and spill over. She climbed, grasping the stone  
walls and touching the air with every exposed inch of her flesh. It came. It all finally came and  
claimed her as its own. The power. The thoughts. Racing. Speeding. Slowing her down until she  
crumpled in her steps- the feet that brought her so far disobeyed and she cursed them silently through  
her bitterness. In her fall, the lamp she carried shattered- and the hope it provided for vision  
splintered into her skin. With it came the trickle she aimed for. The stickiness found its way from  
every incision to her robes, and renewed her sense of urgency. She ran- faster- until she found what  
she desired...  
  
So close. Yet so far. Damn them- damn them all.  
  
She caught the tear with her hand, saving it. It did not deserve the satisfaction of leaving her  
face if she could not leave this world. She sharply inhaled forcing a smile with her impeccable  
posture. So ends another moment of instability. Cool water splashed against her tear-stained cheeks  
as she regained her composure and joined the ranks of the elite in the common room.   
  
Typical, she thought, the morning routine of 'hello's' and 'how'd ya sleep?' entwined with lies  
and careless statements. A joy I'd kill for.  
  
As though on cue she was met with a chorus of "good mornings" and "how did you sleep"  
amidst a barricade of "what a dream" and "where's breakfast?". The innocence of the past 5 years  
was shed the day she slid past the present time and came face to face with the future. Now she was  
stuck in a world between the two- that no one could understand, nor cared to. Gods save them now,  
may they never see through her eyes.  
  
The signature sparkle never faded from her eyes when in the presence of others, and so,  
though internally sullen, she merrily greeted her house-mates and made her way to the Great Hall  
for breakfast and pre-class chatter. Never one to disappoint, she made it a personal requirement to  
see to it that anyone in need of cheering up felt better before the day was through. Their problems  
never clouded her thoughts if left unresolved, it just gave her another task for the following day.  
  
Seated between Pansy and Goyle, directly across from Draco, she reached over for the  
pitcher of pumpkin juice and secured fresh berries next to a slice of toast. Promptly, she opened her  
textbook on her lap, so not to disturb the others, and cast a charm to prevent crumbs from  
penetrating the delicate text. Morning studying was too much for most to handle, but she was never  
one to sleep much, so the difference between morning and night was too subtle for her to distinguish.  
  
"Again with that book? You would think after all that reading yesterday you would have  
had it memorized word for word by now!" joked Pansy. Bit of a bitch that girl was, always intruding  
on one's business when she had no permission or invitation to. But as long as you didn't go near her  
understood claim to Draco, she didn't press you to continue conversing with her.  
  
"That's my foot you're rubbing. I'd appreciate not being involved in your trysts so early in the  
morning," I said dryly. Her flirtations with Malfoy unnerved me. I cared not what she took to bed or  
attempted to take to bed, but I did not appreciate being subject to witness such public displays of  
affection when I had none to parade.  
  
A bit of blushing was in order, and Pansy took to it quite profusely. Her foot withdrew  
beneath her seat, and, as though embarrassed, crossed itself behind it's partner. Draco, unaware of  
our exchange, looked at Goyle and his colleague Crabbe in confusion as they snickered. Those two  
were like brothers- eerily similar in tastes, interests, and humor. I was not amused. Muttering an  
incantation, I made Draco aware of the snickers' provocation, and he unexpectedly gathered his  
books and left without a word- leaving a panic-stricken Pansy to take to chase.   
  
"You shouldn't have done that. You know he can't stand her," warned Goyle, "he's gonna be  
pissed."  
  
"He doesn't know I did it- and he should know what she does around him. If he leads her on  
and plays head games for fun, he's hurting her. But if he really is clueless, then all that's going to  
follow his ass out of Hogwarts is embarrassment." I know the two well from careful observation, and  
he dropped his argument. 


	2. Innocence Reviled

*Disclaimer: It was brought to my attn that I needed one of these things, so here goes. I have never  
read the books, and only seen the first movie. *gasp*. So, obviously, I am not J.K. Rowling nor own  
her characters or their setting or situations and what not. I don't make money! I'm a poor writer! So  
whatever torments my characters, whatever should befall them, or roll off of their tongues is entirely  
of the creases in my twisted mind...and I'm only doing that once because stuff like this ruins my train  
of thought. Oh, and the joys of LA, whom I humbly accuse for my ff addiction, wanted me to let you  
all know that this is an "au" fic, that is, Hermione is in Slytherin *another gasp (don't think I don't  
hear you)* and to the best of my knowledge none of the characters suffers from the torments I put  
them through. Thanks!*  
  
*Reviewers: ~Julie, men aren't soft in real life, so why should they be in fiction? I totally get your  
drift and will do my best by my first reviewer! Comments like yours are the reason I write- thanks  
for that initiation into the world of fanfiction. I totally appreciated it.   
~LA, babe, you will always be the first to see my chapters- that way you can catch me if I do  
anything stupid.  
~Pete, thanks for supporting my writing style, cuz LA told me that 'psyche' was too big of a word.  
Lol. I love you guys!  
~As for the rest of you...please r/r! It means the world to me! Thanks again!*  
  
Corrupt  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Innocence Reviled  
  
His footsteps echoed down the corridor after promptly slamming the doors to the Great Hall  
behind him. He couldn't understand why after five years they couldn't stop themselves from  
meddling in his business. Always the silent type, creeping his way into situations that benefitted him  
but otherwise staying put in private surroundings, he was disturbed by the notion of girls fawning  
over him- and of all creatures, Pansy.   
  
He detested the girl's lack of self-respect. She would find the unapproachable epitome of  
masculinity for the year to drool after and when slapped into reality by her lack of honest, sincere  
connections she fell unto her back-up: long time school-mate, Draco. He had never the time of day  
to distort her daydreams with truth, and this most certainly was not going to be that moment.  
  
"Draco? What's wrong?" asked Pansy, in her most concerned voice. What annoyed Draco  
the most was the very idea that she was actually concerned! She had meant nothing to him, and yet  
he meant the world to her. He was all she had in the world- and he didn't appreciate that pedestal at  
all.  
  
"When I storm out alone without a word, I don't expect to be followed."  
  
"But something scared you, and I just thought that maybe..."  
  
"Do yourself a favor Pansy, put your mind to rest and concentrate on simpler issues that you  
can grasp more realistically, like who's foot you're caressing. One step at time- backwards now-  
that's a good girl," Draco spit out patronizingly. It only served to better herself if he spoke harshly-  
delicate words only confused the innocence that laid be in Pansy's mentality. How he reviled that  
innocence. It served as a buffer to reality- sugar-coating pain and suffering with wishy-washy  
romanticism and fantasy.   
  
"I, um, I'll see you in, in Potions then..." incoherently muttered a near-shattered Pansy. She  
would survive the blow, it never damaged her before. She left dazed, without so much as a tear.  
Draco took it as a sign of incomprehensibility. She wasn't able to understand his clear intent on  
having her leave him alone permanently because something in her mind refused to believe it.   
  
Like a dog, thought Draco. No matter what you do to them, they are loyal followers to their  
master. There lay a bitter chill to the latter appendage of his thought. He, too, was a follower.  
Though his loyalty was tested time and time again, he returned, like a dog, to his master. Silence  
was his only refuge, and even that was a rare state to be in.  
  
He glanced back at the wide doors. They hadn't fully closed, and he was able to make out a  
bit of the room- the Gryffindor table. Aptly labeled brave, their courage stemmed from the muggle  
belief in patriotism, a concept understood and respected at Hogwarts, but only towards respective  
houses and purebloods. He remained stone, even as the warmth of their smiles radiated around them,  
casting an invisible but powerful glow about their table. It was difficult to find external faults within  
the clan, but Draco was more than inclined to exaggerate their internal weaknesses....  
  
Suddenly the soldiers of peace were approached by Hermione, a seemingly uncomfortable  
gesture by the looks of it. Draco realized he'd been staring, and began a brisk pace towards his bed  
chambers- books and breakfast in hand. Classes would begin in promptly 20 minutes, allowing just  
enough time to shuffle through notes, drop off library books, and enter Potions class free of morning  
duties. But he couldn't quite drag his body far enough away from the Great Hall to block his sight of  
her.   
  
She was not beautiful in the sense that one could be blinded by her glamour. No, not quite  
that exquisite. Yet she beheld something unknown, undetectable, that made one take notice of her  
entrance, and left one cold in her absence. And so when the Slytherin intellect approached the  
Gryffindor table, many took note of it and turned to her in close observation of her every word and  
movement. A silence befell the crowd as she spoke...  
  
"I believe these are yours. Thank you." The room was entranced by the graciousness in her  
voice. Rivalries are not taken lightly, and to communicate with an enemy is regarded as treacherous-  
nay!- treason. Hermione's actions in her return of Harry Potter's notebook in public were quaint,  
and so did not escape critique. The silence remained to see what Potter's response to her behavior  
would be...  
  
"You're quite welcome to them anytime." An abrupt commencement of hushed and hurried  
whispers rained on the walls and spilled into the hallway. Draco was not amused by this intimate  
truce- and he made it known with a glare so venomous it poisoned the sun of the dawning day. The  
doors to the Great Hall closed so violently the windows of the castle shook. He would make her full  
aware of his explicit notice of her behavior- and the consequences it entailed.   
  
As he spun around he collided with Severus Snape- professor of Potions and guardian of  
Slytherin House. The men exchanged glances and thoughts simultaneously, and their attitudes- both  
being toxic and severe- met in a violent discourse.  
  
"You cannot make your feelings known Malfoy. Her personal exchanges with the other  
students are none of your concern and are not forbidden in anyway. Whatever bond she forges,  
whatever information she chooses to give or receive are her own business and not yours," warned  
Snape in his most serious tone. Severus knew fully the intentions of Draco- but his temper had to be  
cooled if he were to remain alive.  
  
"You can't be serious! She sees me leave and feels the liberty to approach him! Of all of  
them, she trades class notes with him! I don't care what relationship they have as muggles, she is not  
free to approach him here without consequence- and no, Snape, it is not just consequence at my hand  
that I refer to. You know full well what she faces if..."  
  
"If what? If he finds out? Draco, you speak with a wisdom that is beyond your years of  
matters which are not yours to reckon with. Learn your place and stay there. And do not speak a  
word of what you have seen or the behavior you have just exhibited yourself- am I clear? She places  
no one in direct danger- it is what interferes with her relationships that matters, and that means you,  
Malfoy. Make no mistake of it- if you bring her into attention..."  
  
He was interrupted by an outburst by Draco, "She brings herself into attention by  
approaching him at breakfast! Could she have not waited until later? Until class? She is the only one  
in Slytherin with that kind of a background and you know that has both a significance in the house  
and an impact on everything she does!" By now Draco was furious, both at Snape for his logical  
assessment of the situation, and at having been caught before he could have a thorough talking-to  
with Hermione. His breathing was rapid and his temper in flames. He kept true to his namesake, and  
Snape knew well the intensity of his explosions.  
  
He kept his demeanor calm in hopes of frustrating the provocation of his student's  
maliciousness. "I am well aware of everything you have just said, and do not believe for one second  
that I am not plagued constantly with those very thoughts. For now, do as I say and drop it. There  
will come a time when this situation will be dealt with, but now is not it. Go about your business and  
cool yourself or you will find yourself in personal danger by my own hands, Malfoy," and with that  
the black-robed professor opened the door to a pale group of students- marred by the echoing of the  
doors having been so viciously closed.   
  
The day had just barely begun, and Draco was already counting down to nightfall. 


	3. Experimentations Gone Awry

*Disclaimer: don't own anything but the computer I typed this on.  
*Reviews:   
~Sex & Diamonds: I like that interpretation of Chapter Two- I didn't think of it, but I'll find a way to weasel it in.. thanks for the idea!  
~Pete, and Sex & Diamonds: don't worry- I'll get there. Plot first, porn later. As LA put it, "preferably sooner than later".  
  
Corrupt  
  
Chapter Three  
  
Experimentations Gone Awry  
  
Snape met the pale group of wide-eyed adolescents with a nonchalant glance, which, as he hoped, lead them to believe he had slammed the door accidentally. He could sense their apprehension though- it was not everyday that a prefect from the notoriously pure-blood Slytherin approached another prefect in a rival house- let alone Gryffindor. The atmosphere was thick with tension, and he broke it with a mocking tone...  
  
"I would not be so quick to have the notes of someone so beneath your academic standard, Hermione." His words were innocent, despite their negativity, but the undertones were cautionary, and she understood. She was bold, not stupid, and her reply was given in a brash but respective manner...  
  
"I would not be so quick as to assume my requisition of his notes were for learning purposes, sir. They served only as a means of comparison, of which I am through with. If you'll kindly excuse me, I believe I have a class to prepare for," and with that, she glided past him- raising her chin and leaving yet another opportunity for nosy gossip and looks. Hogwarts students were not unlike a muggle high-school; every move had its motive, and every student was determined to know just what that motive was.  
  
Snape expected as much, and did nothing to retaliate, however deserving she was of point-deduction and detention. He received a solitary giggle from a Raven-claw third-year, at which point he threateningly reached for his wand. The giggle stopped, and the room silenced again as students gathered their things and began their day of classes. Angering a teacher was bad enough- but pissing off a Death-eater was like taunting Satan himself.  
  
Severus ignored the eyes of Minerva McGonagall and Albus Dumbledore. He knew they didn't approve of his use of authority to command silence and power, so he drifted closer to the Gryffindor table, downed a tall glass of pumpkin juice, and left without ever looking at them. They wouldn't question it- he always had a reason they couldn't refute, the attempt would be useless.  
  
***************************************************************  
  
"The Innocence Spell- what is its purpose? Malfoy?" snapped Severus. Draco wouldn't drag his attention from Hermione for even an instant, and the glare in his eyes remained as it was minutes before Potions began.  
  
"The Innocence Spell casts a glamour of innocence over its user. One drinks the potion and appears angelic to anyone that looks upon her," replied Draco, without ever breaking eye contact with the brown mane of Hermione, sitting diagonally in front and to the left of him. He began to wonder if such a girl as she used it- trying to pass off as naive about what she'd done.  
  
"Perhaps if you paid more attention to your studies and less attention to the behavior of others you would remember that glamours are cast through charms- not spells. Granger?" The tone in Snape's voice was understood by Draco, and he inwardly cursed the professor as he broke his look and faced his text.  
  
"The Innocence Spell is used for the purpose of determining guilt. One drinks the potion, and whom ever he accuses unknowingly speaks of his guilt or innocence," Hermione dictated to the class matter-of-factly. She would have added the chapter number, as well as warnings, but rubbing it in Draco's face today would have only lead to trouble. The exchange between Snape and Malfoy was a dead give-away that she hadn't escaped his vision when he left at breakfast.  
  
"What Granger failed to mention was its rarity in precision- both quantitatively and qualitatively. The amount of potion one must drink to determine another's guilt or innocence is dependant on the degree of guilt, severity of accusation, and mentality of the accused. Accuracy is affected if the potion is too strong or too weak. What is the muggle equivalent?" Potions was a class that Hermione was passionate about- and for this reason entirely. Snape made sure to account for muggle similarities to the magical world- and she appreciated it thoroughly. As the only muggle-born in Slytherin, she had but few with which to revel this information with.  
  
Her hand shot up enthusiastically.  
  
"Pansy?" Hermione sighed impatiently.  
  
"A polygraph, or lie-detector. It detects rapid changes in heart-beat or breathing, such as would happen when under tense situations, like coming up with an alibi or excuse." Pansy was easily infatuated, but not dumb as a rock. This morning's confrontation with Draco gave her reason to lay low for a while, so she studied to keep her mind off of him. It didn't work, but she was better prepared for being randomly chosen to become a recipient of Snape's tormenting.  
  
"Correct. Let's begin gathering supplies- pair off and decide which will measure the ingredients and who will physically carry out the work. Quickly- we haven't much time for a slow-pace today. Be careful, but speed-up a bit, I can't let you out of here with this potion. You are sixth-years and will begin using spells that are dangerous outside of proper hands; this is one of them. Do as I say and do not question it." Snape knew the potential this potion had, and chose to dilute some of the ingredients. In the wrong hands, in the wrong amounts, Voldemort himself would have access to a variety of- no. He would not think of it now, it was too distracting.  
  
Ingredients were gathered and the mixing began. Thrice clockwise, 5 counter-clockwise, 30 second rest, clockwise until the hue faded from purple to lilac, and a final rest until the smoke cleared before ingestion. It wasn't difficult if you bade attention to the liquid and concentrated. Permission was granted to split the potion and consume.  
  
"It tastes sweet, like nectar-" Hermione dropped her test-tube. The glass shattered and splinters flew everywhere. She stumbled and tried to clasp the edge of her table, but missed and met the floor. "It..I, I can't, breathe- its like fire! I can't see!" In a screaming fit, Hermione crumpled into a ball on the floor and the students began to panic. The fun of testing new potions was turning into a near-death experience, and Hermione wore herself out into unconsciousness.   
  
Harry Potter ran to her, as did Draco. They both feared for her- concerned that her reaction to the potion would be fatal. But Draco didn't think it was the potion alone that caused this- they had all had it for a few moments by now and everyone else seemed fine. This was the work of an interaction between the potion and something else...  
  
"Out of the way Harry- she doesn't need a hero, she needs air, give her space," commanded Draco. The fear and anger that he had had to stifle earlier on was surfacing, and Potter was already his target without this added on.  
  
"Shove it Malfoy, you know she can't handle it as well as the others- her stomach isn't up to it." Harry was protective of Hermione because he knew of her lineage, and didn't understand why she wasn't sorted into Gryffindor, with more muggles like herself that knew the dangers of magic and could better protect each other.   
  
"You think it's because she's like one of you she couldn't handle it?! She's a Slytherin- she can take more than you can! Get the hell away from her!" Draco leapt at Harry and tackled him away from her. One more reference to being part muggle, and Draco knew he'd kill Harry before Voldemort could get to him.  
  
Snape came over and muttered an incantation that froze the two in mid-fight. Harry was developing a bruise on the side of his jaw, and Draco obviously had the upper-hand due to the upper-body strength he acquired in his father's company, outside of Hogwarts. He reached down and lifted the limp girl's body, carrying to the Hospital Wingto personally deposite her in their care.   
  
Though frozen, both could think clearly, and Draco wondered why Snape seemed so calm. What enchantment or charm could react that strongly with an Innocent Spell- unless it had to do with someone in the room. Or someone with direct contact during the day with Hermione, like another Slytherin. Did Snape know more than he was letting on? 


	4. Rivalry and Chivalry

*Disclaimer: J.K. owns everything.   
  
**A/N: Before I totally get scorched by flames, I needed to let you all know something important. This is at its core a HG/DM story, but I really want to infiltrate Slytherin, so Snape is going to have a major role, too. Also, not to give away too much of the plot, but I wanted to give you all a heads up- before anything can happen between Hermione and Draco, another relationship is going to heat up...and that's what draws the two together....and it involves Snape. If you don't like Snape stuff, pay attention to the chapter titles. They give away key chapter details, no matter who's involved, so its  
easier to keep track of your favorite and not so favorite moments. Thanks!**  
  
**A/N: This chapter has a simultaneous-plot going on, that's why it's so long. Of course, you should read all of it, b/c its all important, but if the last chapter made you concerned for Hermione's well-being, scroll down till you see her initials dividing the page. Otherwise, part one is what goes on when Snape re-enters the classroom. Both parts are happening at the same time. **  
  
*Reviews: LA as usual- thanks for the support and encouragement. I'll leave my personal fantasies for another fic, lol. S &D: I know you like it, I do too...  
Keep reviewing!  
  
Corrupt  
  
Chapter Four  
  
Rivalry and Chivalry  
  
Quietly closing the door to the Hogwart's Hospital Wing, Severus took a rare pause to think about what he had just witnessed. His best student, 17 year old Hermione Granger, drank a potion he knew to be diluted and safe– and collapsed, nearly comatose, onto the floor. A series of thoughts flew  
through his mind, but he couldn't quite piece them together. He knew she'd been careful, hers was probably the most accurate of all potions created today, since she always tried to one-up her classmates as though it were a competition.  
  
Her screams...fire, she screamed fire...and said she couldn't see. Was that a vision? Had she seen flames and not been able to see through them...or were her eyes burning? He would have to speak to her when she felt up to it- the difference in symptoms meant the difference between real and potential danger, and whether an elixir would save her from this suffering. If she'd seen fire, then it very well could mean the potion worked- and given her level of accuracy, she may have detected a presence in the room of someone whose guilt was such that flames erupted from his image. But if she had felt  
fire in her eyes, then this was the work of an interaction that included a spell or charm that had been cast upon her- knowingly or otherwise- that affected her vision. That didn't narrow things down much, but it made his search a bit more specific, targeting incantations that affected images portrayed by others- what she saw of them.  
  
In his very depths, Snape feared for her life. He, Lucious Malfoy, and Draco were death-eaters, side by side with Voldemort, though all at different levels. Each knew the dangers presented to themselves and others, but Lucious was maliciously close to Voldemort- always in agreement and ready and willing to do anything for him. Snape kept tabs on Potter for Voldemort, recruiting death-eaters, but not openly plotting against anyone the way Lucious would. Draco was caught in a web he wouldn't escape until he was older and ready to decide what he would do with his life. Right now, all he could do was watch and obey. Snape knew this, and never pressed Draco as much as he would anyone else. When he expressed concern over Hermione's contact with Harry, he knew exactly what Draco was implying might happen, and the nervous, scared look in the boy's eyes was fresh in his mind.  
  
Snape continued to run the scenario in his mind while he walked back into the classroom. There was a huddled group of girls in tears, a mass of boys dumbfounded and shocked, and then the frozen bodies of Draco and Harry in the center of it all.   
  
"She is recovering with constant supervision, and there is nothing to worry about. Has anyone else felt anything remotely similar to what Miss Granger experienced? A burning sensation? Loss of vision? Temporary dizziness?" Snape needed answers, and the collective opinion of 'no' spoke volumes. The entire class could not have been that far off with their potions that they all would have missed an image of flames. That relieved the professor somewhat- there was no immediate threat in her, or their, vicinity.  
  
With another Latin murmur, Draco collapsed next to Harry as they broke out of their mold. Both had time to cool off, but Snape wasn't taking any chances. He deducted 10 points from their respective houses for fighting in class; though it should have been more, he recognized that it was on the girl's behalf, and not over a juvenile issue like a date.  
  
Class ended quickly, and the subdued students proceeded to their next classes- except Draco.   
  
"It was an interaction with something. I've read this before, I don't know where but I have- I know it. I can't remember what spell it is exactly that was cast on Hermione, but the book said that if another spell affecting perception was used with it, the result was a burning sensation from the eyes! It doubles the clouded vision, and corrupts eye-sight- I don't remember if it was temporary or permanent, but I know it was severe. Enough for her to pass out anyway," the Slytherin was beginning to panic. He knew Hermione well enough to know she didn't frivolously use potions and the such, which meant someone had done this to her with full intention of harming her. He was praying it was a joke, but when he looked up at his professor, he wasn't met with the comfort he'd hoped for.  
  
"I suspected as much- and I know of several spells that do exactly as you have described. Since she tends to stay mostly in the common room, I want you to observe all the Slytherin students she comes into contact with today and tomorrow. Rumors will circulate, and I want to see if anyone seems particularly concerned, that shouldn't be. Note anything out of sorts, and report it to me immediately. I'll ask Raven-claw and Huffle-puff prefects to do like-wise, not telling them everything, but making them aware that a jokester is in our midst." Snape didn't want to worry Draco any further by implying this was done intentionally, though he had no doubts of his own now that it was.  
  
"Fine," he agreed as he made his way to the door. Turning, he added, "and Professor? I wouldn't ignore Gryffindor either. Potter's naive about Hermione- he thinks the danger she faces is as a muggle, he doesn't equate it as being a muggle in Slytherin that's the real danger." Draco left an amused Snape standing near the curtained window, in the glow of a candle. He knew Malfoy was smart, but sometimes it took him by surprise how cautious he was such matters. Gryffindor would be watched- closely- especially Harry Potter. A muggle that evaded The Dark One, near the only muggle in Slytherin, being protected by the son of the most powerful agents of Voldemort was a powerful brew for trouble- one with worse consequences than even Severus could imagine.  
  
"I believe I've had this pleasure before, Severus."  
  
Snape faced the figure at the door  
  
HG~HG~HG~HG~HG~HG~HG  
  
The iced body of Hermione Granger was enveloped in blankets, and her eyelids were draped in damp cloths. The nurses bustled about the Hospital Wing gathering books and herbs, instruments and water. The trip to this building had been a long one, how long of a lapse between her consumption of the potion and her arrival may have had an impact on how quickly they could revive her- if it could be done at all now.  
  
"Stabilize her temperature. Her eyelids are a blistering red- keep them moist and try to cool them, apply a slight but firm pressure..there now...you'll wake up soon," soothingly commanded a student nurse. The entire nursing staff was known for their attentive nature and calming mannerism towards  
students- in a place like this, such behavior was greatly necessary and appreciated. She was not concerned with Hermione's condition- her pulse rate was strong, and she believed the shock of losing her vision was what caused her to collapse. She wasn't totally sure, because the girl still wasn't responsive, but she had confidence in her own judgment.  
  
The head nurse agreed, "she'll be up soon. The redness is fading- we just need to know what food she's eaten, or physical ailments she was experiencing before class, just to be on the safe side. There, there now sweetheart, small sips, tiny sips.." she coaxed, while dripping water onto Hermione's pale, dry lips. She stirred, enough to move her lips and invite the cool liquid into her mouth, where it rolled, welcome, into the back of her parched throat.  
  
Hermione breathed a heavy sigh. Startled, she attempted to get up, but fell back again. She could make out figures in the light, but the images were slurred, and it made her sick to look at them. She closed her eyes again, relieved to be alive and taken care of. She felt safe here, nestled in blankets and away from everything else in the castle.  
  
The nurses continued to keep close tabs on her. She answered their questions as best she could, but it didn't help much. She'd eaten toast and berries, with a bit of pumpkin juice, all of which she had gotten on her own. She felt fine all day- though for the past week she'd been apprehensive about  
everything around her. Maybe the increased stress level? But Hermione was always worrying about something- tests, homework, Draco's protectiveness, Harry's protectiveness. She'd wanted to be left alone, and their constant attentions felt harassing. Nothing out of the ordinary.  
  
Rustling was heard outside of the door, signaling the end of classes and the rush to new locations in the building. The nurses were attempting to contact Professor Snape, in hopes that what she had described would help in the creation of an elixir she could drink to regain her vision and strength. They sent a student to his room to retrieve him, but she came back alone, saying he had locked his room. They sent her again to try his office.  
  
"Darling, are you feeling well enough to return to class, or would you prefer to rest here for a while?" It was no secret Hermione would be in a rush to return to classes, but to their surprise, she refused.  
  
"I'm still shaking, I feel- funny. Like a burden has been lifted off of me, but at the same time, I feel like I should be more tense... or perhaps I'm just so weak it feels good to be lying down. I don't know anymore, I just want to sleep and pretend I was home," she responded drowsily.  
  
The nurses curtained off her bed and shook their heads. She felt relieved, and didn't want to be? The shock must not have worn off yet.  
  
"His office was empty, as were his chambers. He has a prep period right now, so he may have just locked the door for privacy," remarked the student, who returned alone- again. They agreed that it wasn't an immediate concern to find Snape, and chose to try again in an hour. 


	5. SSStudentTeacher Relationsss

*Disclaimer: All J. K...as usual  
  
*Reviews:  
~Jenn, thanks for reading my fic! Of course I'll keep you updated- and I think you'll like this chapter..lol  
~ PokeyOoOky, I'm so happy my writing has an effect on my readers! I knew reviews would be fun to read, but I can't wipe the smile off my face thanks to you!  
~Sex&Diamonds, in response to your chapter 4 review, you have no idea....  
~Hasapi, in response to your chap 4 review, yea, in a way he is... but keep in mind, Draco's a bit torn right now.  
~Tourniqette, thanks for your curiousity. I'm sure you'll be pleased in the long run.   
~LA, as always, thank you for your honest critiques- sugar-coated as they may be. I love you! And no smirks in the hallway bout the new character- even though I'll be the first to laugh.  
  
*A/N: Sorry bout the delay- what, a whole 12 hours? I decided to sleep last nite (I usually update at 2 or 3am, I'm a nite owl). Don't say I didn't warn you about this chapter! Read my last note from Chapter 4! Also, this new character is of my own doing, and is needed for the plot. I'm not much for writing down these sorts of things, so forgive me if its not up to par with more experienced lemon-writers. Finally, on a technical notes, I'm a huge fan of italics, but can't figure out how to get them to convert to text files, and if there are any spaces between lines, know that I do my best to get rid of them- but it happens when I convert to text. Thanks!  
  
Corrupt  
  
Chapter Five  
  
SSStudent-Teacher Relationsss  
  
*Click*  
  
The words came so fluidly out of her mouth that Severus had to catch his breath.  
  
"Paxia," he whispered, barely audibly. In the darkness of the classroom, her body was illuminated by the gentle glow of candles. She was just as he had remembered her- petite, but with a presence that over-whelmed even his stature. Her raven hair was short and spiky, but in the sexiest display of femininity. Her image alone was not to be trifled with, and he was brought back to that first moment in time when he met her....  
  
Hundreds of Death-eaters met in an abandoned building to discuss the use of a Slytherin spy in Hogwarts. Death-eater spies could be in any house, but they had wanted to target Slytherin- the only house which proudly boasted its consistency of select pure-bloods. Though women were not scarce at such events, it was rare for a woman to initiate ideas or take control of following through on orders- until one such woman removed the hood of her cloak and revealed her face to the crowd. Paxia Devastarium. He knew her only slightly- she was a 7th year Slytherin that exuded quiet innocence. He now came to recognize her facade- masking an intellect that could rival Hermione, and an evil persistence that surpassed even Lucious Malfoy.  
  
And now here she was, in his classroom, devoid of student interruption- and locking the door.  
  
She strode down a row of desks, her delicate hands tracing the surfaces, lifting her fingers to glide over instruments and materials left behind. She was a student- but her strength and precision captivated him.  
  
"I knew I'd find you here, though it is a bit far to travel when I have other classes to attend. The young Draco Malfoy just left- did he not? I thought I recognized him- just like his father- confident in his steps, though when he passed me I saw him stumble. What of yourself Severus? Have you stumbled since we last spoke?" She knew how to manipulate her prose to appear naive, and smiled when she saw that Severus understood. Her lips were full and red, a stark contrast to the robes she wore and the hair that she brushed aside of her eyes.   
  
"I am too busy to concern myself with matters that others have taken care of already. If a spy has been selected from Slytherin, I was not informed of it, and I think it best that way. Now, please, I have a class to prepare for.." Snape attempted to rid himself of her, but she was more cunning than he, and it caught him off guard.  
  
"Then I'll help you. Fifth years are next, am I correct?" she began to rummage through the shelves, gathering herbs, "consider yourself lucky to find someone as experienced as I am for the position of teacher's assistant. From today onward, I'll be coming here after breakfast to help you with our Sixth-year Potions class, and to keep an eye on Harry Potter," this final statement she made while locking her eyes on his.   
  
"So it was you? I should have guessed as much. He isn't as easy as you would think to keep an eye on- we learned that in his first year. And he has others watching him, such as Draco Malfoy..." Draco had demonstrated his ability to obtain secret information on Granger and Potter, and use that information to protect Hermione. If Potter were put in danger, Draco would fear for Hermione, and, not having his priorities straight yet, could turn against his father- threatening everyone in the  
process.  
  
"Malfoy?" she stepped away from the shelves and toward Snape. Her lips raised into a soft smile he recognized as a smirk. "What danger is he to my position?"  
  
She brushed against him, "All Slytherins are capable of taking care of themselves," she glided her hand up his chest, and seizing his tie, he brought his lips to hers. His back was against the desk, and she had wedged herself to him in such a way that the student lab table behind her made it impossible for him to back away without touching her.  
  
He attempted to pass her, and she felt his arousal against her. A wicked grin flashed over her face as she looked down. She raised her glance and captured his eyes as her hands reached between his robes and over his slacks. He inhaled sharply as her fingertips danced on his hardened passions- he was near to losing control...  
  
"Not here- they can see through the windows on the door- anyone could hear us," he could barely speak, but he would not be overcome by a simple girl.  
  
"Spatium Silentius," her words sent shivers through his body, and he noticed the shimmer in her eyes. The Latin phrase silenced the room- making any sound impenetrable, and inescapable. She was serious, and it turned him on like nothing ever had.   
  
His strong, rough hands parted her robes and he pulled her against him as he bent down to taste her mouth. She placed her hands on his hips and met them to undo his belt and loosen his pants. Her hands firmly took hold of his sweater and pulled it as high as she could reach. Pining her to the desk  
her back was facing with his hips, he removed his sweater and was pleased at the reaction on her face.  
  
To seduce meant she was in control. But that body came as an unexpected bonus, and he could only imagine how wet she'd become. He stripped her of her robes, and her shirt became part of the pile of clothing growing on the floor. He ran his hands over the softness of her flesh and he lifted her into the air by her waist. Carrying her to a prep table on the side of the room, he placed her down and hungrily kissed her- he wanted to know her taste and she was just as starving for his. Their tongues danced as he caressed his way into her jeans, and holding every inch of her hips, thighs, calves, ankles, and feet- the garment left her.  
  
The chill of the table sent her searching for warmth and she found it as he leaned against the table- his groin now level with hers. She gripped him with her knees around his waist, and as she slid her tongue down the side of his neck, he let his pants and silk boxers slide to the stone floor. Touching every bit of her exposed flesh, he worked his way from her undone bra to her panties. He tore them off of her, and tasted her as she dug her nails into his shoulders and began to moan.  
  
Flicking his tongue against her opening, while massaging the inside of her thighs, and rubbing his teeth against her clit, Paxia felt herself coming quickly. She pulled his face up to meet hers by the hair and he began to grind against her. Teasingly- knowing he owned her- he glided into and out of her slit...slowly. Two could play at this game.  
  
She grasped his shoulder, then moved her hand down his heaving chest, down the side of his abs, and around his firm behind. As he continued his taunting cycle of entrance and exit, she reached between his legs and began to stroke his sac. He wasn't expecting this rush of sensation, and he thrust into her as deeply as he could. She spread her legs further apart, giving him more access, but not as much as he wanted, given that she was still pressing all the right spots.  
  
He pushed her back, and gripped the edge of the table. With one knee on the surface, he kicked back a table behind him and hoisted himself onto the prep desk. The throbbing in both their nether regions intensified as they parted, and he laid her down- bending her knees, lifting her thighs and thrusting over and over again- finally as deep as was possible. She arched her back and enjoyed the ride. Who knew Severus Snape was this sexually charged? She breathed in his spicy scent as she met his lips when the grind became steadier.   
  
The candles that once flickered began to flame up- and the spectacle left them both more breathless than they already were.   
  
"Faster! Mmm- oh..ooo.. Sev-erus! There!" She couldn't resist screaming- it was a feeling like no other- the most intense orgasm she had ever experienced was on the brink of climax and she ached for it..  
  
"Yes- God yes- Pax! Pax!" grunting animalistically, Snape's baritone voice boomed into her ears. He couldn't stand to hold out any longer. In a final thrust, she gripped his shoulders and he held her body firm against him- and he released everything he had into her. She moaned in pure ecstacy and  
he collapsed, panting, on top of her.  
  
She closed her eyes and smiled again. With his head against her chest, she brushed his hair away from his forehead and confessed, "I've been meaning to do that since my fifth year."  
  
"You weren't the only one," came his shocking reply. It wasn't everyday a student turned a teacher on- but when it happened, class became a reason to hide behind a desk. Hm. A very good reason.  
  
A knock came on the door. Damn- the incantation was wearing off. They'd have to be cautious about what came next, so he lifted himself off of her and reached down to reclaim his robes and get dressed. He reached over and she gave herself the liberty of clinging to him as she got down. He bent  
over and kissed her lips again, grateful he'd see her everyday constantly.   
  
"Severus, I need to know what you make of this- of me, here, watching Potter," there was more to her tone than her words let on, but Snape didn't grasp it.  
  
"Everyday?" he grinned. Her devilish ways were taking him over. "If you ever need anything, any help at all, consider myself your partner."  
  
"As for Malfoy..."  
  
"As for Malfoy, like you said, Slytherins are capable of taking care of themselves. Damn!" Snape looked over at the mess he'd created while entranced by Paxia.   
  
"You would think a published Potions master such as yourself could look at this and fix it in an instant...but I suppose you're a bit distracted right now...and disheveled. I'd tidy up a bit before class starts. Spatius Corrigerum," and with a flick of her wand, the disarray on the floor straightened up- and any streaks from their romp on the adjacent table disappeared. "You might say things were back to normal."  
  
"May things never be back to normal," he growled into her ear. And they wouldn't be. 


	6. The Beauty of Innocence

*Disclaimer: The one, the only J. K. Rowling owns the beauty that is Hogwarts and the souls that infiltrate its walls.  
  
*Reviews:  
~LA- you're right! Science will never be the same again!  
~Ghetto-Superstar- lol, lemme guess? the classroom setting? or snape?  
~PokeyOoOky- thank you... i was worried i couldn't pull it off, guess I shouldn't have been!  
~C'mon guys! Keep readin and reviewin! Thanks to everyone who has so far!!  
  
*A/N: There, happy? Considering how little expertise I have in the area, that was merely a warm up for the good stuff. Now, back to Hermione- since you've all been suffering in her absence.  
  
Corrupt  
  
Chapter Six  
  
The Beauty of Innocence  
  
Hermione gently sighed, and eased the blankets aside as she reached for a glass of water. Her body, however harmed, appreciated the depth of sleep she'd experienced in that hour. Depleted of strength, and starved of nutrition, she motioned to the nurse that she was hungry. The words formed on her lips, but she dared not speak them for fear of breaking the brilliant silence that surrounded her.   
  
When a plate arrived with an assortment of fruits, breads, and jellies, she hungrily slathered the slices with marmalade and forked each grape and pear. Famished, the sight disappeared in moments, and she was satisfied enough to prop herself up on the pillows and stare into the sunshine outside. Her vision was less clouded, and she could make out the owls approaching for that afternoon's post arrival. It was a glorious sight to behold- each feather important as the creatures glided on invisible  
wind lifts. Hermione was grateful for this break, no matter what its cause. This was a welcome change of scenery.  
  
A commotion stirred in the hallway. Harry and Draco had reinstated their interrupted ruckus and were proceeding to attack each other vehemently.   
  
"Say it again Potter. C'mon- I didn't hear it the first time, what did you say to the team? Huh?" Harry had been facing his Quidditch team in the hallway after second classes had finished, and Draco had come up behind him. With a violent shove to his shoulder, Draco had spun the boy around to face him.  
  
"Sod off Draco- you know full well what I said- and it's the truth. Hermione's the one girl in Slytherin that isn't all over you and those bloody Death-eaters and you can't handle it," growled Harry. The allegation was out of Potter's character, and a crowd began to gather. Provoking a swing, Harry walked a circle around Draco.  
  
"I'm not playing games Harry. You don't know what you're messing with when you say things you don't understand," having been well trained in holding his tongue by now, Draco was not about to get himself wedged in this until he talked to Hermione or until Snape found something out.   
  
"I didn't hear a denial Malfoy. You were the only one to stay after class, you were the only one not to ask about Hermione, and no one can seem to locate Snape. Funny, the fifth years don't have lab today... You can't hide behind anyone here and Hermione isn't going to save your ass this time," a storm was raging in Harry's mind. She was such a wonderful girl, and too smart to waste her time with slimy gits like Draco. Damn you, Draco. Damn you, Draco.. "DAMN YOU DRACO!" He leapt at Draco's throat like a madman. The two began to wrestle furiously.  
  
Draco received a blow to the cheek, and to his stomach. He captured Harry in a headlock, where he delivered a punch to Potter's nose, unleashing a rush of blood. Harry cradled his face- shocked- and then tackled Draco to the floor, where they proceeded to kick each other and rip each other's clothing amidst cheers and taunts.  
  
"THAT IS ENOUGH," roared Albus Dumbledore. The headmaster seldom became furious, but when it happened, even Snape himself would cower to him. Sprawled on the floor, both bleeding from assorted scratches and cuts, the two held their grasps on one another. Signaling to Hagrid and Oliver Wood, Dumbledore watched as the boys were separated. The heat from their eyes never faded, even as the crowd dwindled in shame and fear. "To the Hospital Wing. If you are not  
expelled, consider it a blessing. This matter will be handled as soon as you are able to behave civilly. And as of this moment, you are both stripped of your titles as prefects in your respective houses. Fifty points from each of you. This is the most disgraceful display I have ever witnessed in all my years. Get out of my sight." With those words, a raging Dumbledore and a speechless Minerva McGonagall took off down the long corridor to his office- no doubt to determine whether parents should be contacted, given the students involved.  
  
Harry spat on Draco's robes, nearly starting the scuffle again. He was yanked by Hagrid.  
  
"Don't think for one second your behavior will be over-looked because of what you were fighting over. He didn't hear what either of you said, so all he's looking at is your lack of self-control. You threatened the well-being of yourselves and the students around you, and he's not taking that lightly." Hagrid spoke logically, with a sadness he directed towards Harry, whom he was partial to, but also towards Draco, who seemed to be on the receiving end of this uncharacteristic display.  
  
"I'm outta this. If you want to work something out Harry, next time, take it on the field and leave the bloodying- up for the sport, not the classroom. As for you, Malfoy- I'd watch your back. That's a load of questions you're not answering- and it doesn't escape anyone's notice that you're not offering reasons," warned Wood.  
  
"Enough. All of you. Get in there and get cleaned up. When you're good and ready, they'll send for me and Dumbledore will deal with you." And with that, Hagrid left the two in the care of the nursing staff.  
  
Hermione pulled her attention from the window only to discover her two pseudo-guardians limping into the ward. She watched as each was dragged away from each other and their wounds nursed. Draco was given ice for his bruises, and his arm- slit by a spark from Harry's wand- was sewn and bandaged. Harry accepted a potion to numb his ribs- bruised by a swift kick from Draco- and gauze for his nose. It wasn't broken, but the bleeding had been profuse, so he laid down and changed into a shirt the staff had in a closet.   
  
Draco was led to the bed next to Hermione, and she couldn't help but question what had happened.  
  
"Remember this morning, when we were at the table, and I left you there with Pansy, Crabbe, and Goyle? I walked out because I had this feeling someone was watching me- and I didn't like it. Pansy followed me, and I yelled at her. Not because I wanted to hurt her, but because the damn girl is so naive that she doesn't understand when a guy just wants silence without stares. I watched her go back in, and the door was a little open and I peeked into the Great Hall... and that's when I saw you go up to him. I know you've done it before, but this time was different. All eyes were on you and Potter, and I wanted to kill him for doing it," Draco tried to explain. He was beginning to come to terms with the fact that the girl next to him didn't realize the danger she was in, and she needed to be made aware of it.  
  
"Harry and I are friends, nothing more, nothing less. We relate to each other in a way no one else in Slytherin House can with me. He knows what its like to live in a muggle world where magic is a sin and where the dangers that exist are more physical than this. This isn't real to me, Draco. Fighting with wands and potions? Its still new to me, and I need someone to understand that. Harry does," replied Hermione. She wasn't sure if she was defending Harry or reassuring Draco, but she didn't like having to do either one at the moment. They were nearly grown men, and should behave as such.  
  
"Hermione, I know. I know and understand that more than anyone else in Slytherin, and speaking as a member of, well, what I do, you have to listen to me. You are special- but what makes you special also makes you vulnerable. That unique aspect of you that no one else in Slytherin can relate to means you stand out...significantly. Potter thinks that potion reacted the way it did because you're a muggle. That's crap. Half the people in that room are part muggle and you're the only one that  
collapsed. That's what I was discussing with Snape after class- you had an adverse reaction to an interaction between two spells. The question is, what was the other spell?" Draco didn't want to frighten her, even though it was evident in her eyes that she was. He reached out for her hand. "While you're at Hogwarts, your loyalties lie with your house, not your history. Potter draws enough attention to himself. When he draws attention to you, I worry because you're not like other Slytherins. You're not partial to Death-eaters, or raised to suspect everything and everyone around you. That's what makes you so approachable and that's why he needs to back off."  
  
"I know more than you think I do. I know being around Harry pisses you off, and I know I'm the only muggle in Slytherin and I have to watch my back. But Draco, you can't pretend that verbalizing our fears and getting Harry away from me is going to solve anything. Its not going to make me any safer, or Harry any less open to attacks. And if unloading this onto me makes you feel like a secret burden has been lifted off of your conscience, then you're sick," with that last comment,  
the tears that threatened to rain down every morning splashed into her lap, and Draco unconsciously took her face in his hand and wiped their salty trails.   
  
His heart broke for her. He knew what it meant to be torn between life and duty. To curse the day of your conception because it coincided two evils- Voldemort and Lucious Malfoy. To curse the day of your sorting because it linked two violent rivalries- Gryffindor and Slytherin, Potter and Malfoy. His own eyes shown with tears he'd never cried, and she sensed them. He closed his eyes, trying to regain his composure...she reached out and touched his closed lids with her fingertips. The touch  
sparked a connection that bound his trust in her, what remained to be seen was if she trusted him. 


	7. Naivety Amidst Corruption

*Disclaimer: Hmmm, better, but still not touching the brilliance of J. K.  
  
*Reviews:  
~PokeyOoOky- thanks for appreciating the detail- I do my best. Its hard to picture Harry fighting though...  
~Sex & Diamonds- don't you worry...they will!  
~LA- I appreciate your encouragement so much! My faithful reader, always dependable. See you in class!  
~Lavendar- I take pride in the fact that I've delightfully confused you. Don't worry- you're not alone! I'll be revealing the real threat soon..if you haven't guessed it yet. And keep the Harry Potter pride!! It's all good!  
  
*A/N: Happy New Year! For those of you just tuning in...Hermione is in Slytherin, Draco is a Death-eater, Paxia Devastarium is a 7th year student that slept with Snape and is now a teacher's assistant in Harry, Hermione, and Draco's 6th year 1st period Potions class, Harry and Draco are killing each other over Hermione, and apparently I'm a good lemon writer. The last note has nothing to do with anything, lol.  
  
Corrupt  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
Naivety Amidst Corruption  
  
*The innocence of the past 5 years was shed the day she slid past the present time and came face to face with the future. Now she was stuck in a world between the two- that no one could understand, nor cared to. Gods save them now, may they never see through her eyes.*  
  
Hermione always looked upon Draco Malfoy as a pillar of strength and severity. She was a simple girl, with insecurities and unsorted feelings that she pushed aside in attempt to pass off to the world as confident and stable. But witnessing this tender catharsis of emotion from the very being she assumed indestructible led her to believe his revelation to her was done under more than just pretense. When she touched him, his sincerity raced through her veins, striking a chord deep within her- that she had kept safe from corrosion by ignoring its existence. His words touched her in a way she never thought possible... and she was beginning to if he was capable of seeing the world through her eyes. Really seeing her fear, and really wanting to protect her.  
  
Draco took a slow deep breath, and a long hard look at the woman in front of him. She'd  
changed since her first year. No longer the loud, know-it-all pretentious Granger, she was a soft-spoken, confident Hermione- a woman that understood what she had gotten herself into as the first witch in her family. Perhaps in a moment of true connection, Draco was seeing what he'd never suspected lay beneath her skin: a lost lamb in forbidden territory. She could get through this on her own- this hidden attack. He knew she wasn't naive- she'd be more careful who she conversed with and kept near. But he wanted to hold her, to tell her that it wasn't just her battle- he would be there for her.  
  
In their daze of recognition, they failed to notice the approaching footsteps of Harry Potter, but he noticed them. Clearly understanding the relationship between the two as not being limited to contact within Slytherin, Potter made the clear decision to trust Hermione's next move. He wanted her to honestly tell him if she wanted his company or his distance. For five years he had to stand there, stone, as Malfoy watched his best-friend like an over-seer to the incapable. She could fare well enough on her own in life without his interference, but it always felt like she confided in him because she felt tense around Draco. Now he was seeing something new- like the awkward girl had grown up, and didn't need friends anymore, she needed more. Was Harry just her friend?  
  
"I came to apologize, to both of you. I know that I'm over-stepping my boundaries when I approach you, Hermione, and for that, I'm sorry I've caused you any trouble," he spoke without slipping. These words were the most painfully excruciating syllables that had ever escaped his lips, and he didn't want to have to repeat them. Turning to Draco, "If she chooses to trust you, if it is her honest wish, then I will completely let her go..."  
  
"Harry!" Hermione interrupted. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. She knew eventually it would come to this but not now- not over some stupid accident.  
  
"I can't expect you to keep sane when the two people you come in the most contact with each day are killing themselves over you. I won't Hermione. If you tell me to stay in Gryffindor and never approach you again outside of class, that's what I'll do. Draco's right," what a bitter pill to swallow, "you're different than I am. You're nothing like me. You have a separate path in life and I won't be the one to confuse you with ties to a life you've left behind. You're not losing anything, listen," he couldn't bare to see her suffer. He knew she felt guilty, but Harry understood there was something dangerous afoot that Draco could deal better with than he could.  
  
"Gryffindor's rivalry with Slytherin means I'm only interfering in your life. I just want you to know that I understand I'm what's making you open to whatever it is you're open to, and I'm backing away for you." Harry finished his monologue and kissed her on the forehead. He turned around and began walking to Dumbledore's office alone.  
  
"Wait- Harry...don't think I wanted this. I- I didn't.."  
  
"It never entered my mind. Bye, Hermione," never looking back, Harry Potter left the ward and left Hermione Granger in Draco's company. He didn't mean to hurt her, but he didn't want to be the reason she was hurt further. Something was going on behind Slytherin walls that he wasn't a part of- and if they hurt her, he'd kill them. But right now it seemed he was the one doing more harm than good.   
  
*^How he reviled that innocence. It served as a buffer to reality- sugar-coating pain and  
suffering with wishy-washy romanticism and fantasy.^*   
  
Draco couldn't grasp what had just happened. Did Harry Potter just leave Hermione out of guilt? He thought that she suffered- because of a simple house rivalry?! Could he be that naive, or smart? After an extended stare at the door, Draco moved closer to Hermione, who seemed to be absolutely crushed. He wanted to hold her, but didn't know if he should keep his distance right now. After all, he told her the split would be inevitable just moments before. Still, he was distracted by Potter's moment of truth. He couldn't understand if Harry really left her thinking she was torn by house rivalries and her past life, or if he knew more than he was letting on. It didn't matter. She was closer to safety now- and he let her know it.  
  
He wrapped her in his arms, and though she pushed away in protest, he held her tightly. Slowly she melted, and cried long enough to soak through his shirt, until the burning tears moistened his shoulder. He put his right hand behind her neck and stroked her ear with his thumb as he cradled her in his left arm. She would be alright now.  
  
"You'll be alright now," he whispered, "please, trust me on that."  
  
"I want to. I just don't know what to do anymore. You'll never know me like he knows me," she quietly sobbed into his chest.  
  
"That's because I'll know you better," and he meant it. He gazed into her soft, pleading eyes, and kissed a tear as it ventured onto her cheek. He would know her better, and keep her safer, even if it meant killing himself in the process.  
  
"Draco Malfoy? To Dumbledore's office." A curt summons came from a messenger. As Draco rose to meet his fate, Hermione took his hand.  
  
"Do you mean that?"  
  
"I will never let you fall."  
  
~~~@ ~~~@ ~~~@  
  
*^~A muggle that evaded The Dark One, near the only muggle in Slytherin, being protected by the son of the most powerful agents of Voldemort was a powerful brew for trouble- one with worse consequences than even Severus could imagine.~^*  
  
The conference with Dumbledore was relatively uneventful compared to his lashing out at them in public. The two were given probation for the rest of the year, and detention for a month- leniency, compared to what they should have received for such behavior. Albus Dumbledore was not headmaster for nothing. He couldn't expel Harry Potter- it would serve no purpose. He was the most influential factor in the defeat of Voldemort, and was more important here than with muggles. Draco Malfoy's expulsion fared likewise- his father was Potter's greatest enemy, and his son's removal from Hogwarts could prove fatal at some point in the future. It was best not to tempt fate.  
  
The students left his office numbly. Neither spoke, and the atmosphere between them was frostbitten and bare. Harry and Draco turned in opposite directions to return to their dormitories, where they were to remain until that afternoon's punishment, courtesy of Hagrid. Neither knew what to make of their current statuses. They were like everyone else now- stripped of all titles and privileges, barely making away with their enrollments. And what of Hermione? Both wondered if Harry would ever really see her again- class wouldn't be the same without their competition over her attentions.   
  
It wasn't love, Harry decided, between Draco and Hermione. It was duty. Slytherins had no depth to themselves but to duty.   
  
It wasn't naivety, Draco decided, between Harry and Hermione. It was understanding. Muggles knew nothing of danger, lest it toy near their hearts.  
  
As he rounded the corner, Draco spotted a distracted Severus Snape and chose to approach him. He had several questions that needed answers, and soon. Something about Snape's mannerisms almost made Draco change his mind, but this was his most important liaison in his connection to Voldemort, and, above all, he wanted his mentor to know that Potter was out of the picture- for good.  
  
"Professor! Sir, Hermione's feeling better, and I wanted to talk to you about Potter.."  
  
"Malfoy, out of my way. I'm delivering a tonic to Miss Granger and then I must return to my office. And for the final time, eradicate this concern you have for Granger and Potter and leave them be. Come what may for the two of them, it serves them both just as well without your interference," there was an element of haste in Snape's words, and his dismissal of Hermione's condition bothered Draco. It wasn't like him to stop dwelling on an issue- especially one that concerned Slytherin.  
  
"Potter's out of the way now. I was surprised, but it was his own doing. And as for Hermione, I thought you should know she's improved greatly in the past hour, but that tonic would have had a better purpose back then. It's a waste of ingredients now." The annoyance in Draco's voice came unexpectedly, and he should have known better than to pull that in front of Professor Snape.  
  
Stopping abruptly, Severus turned to the boy he'd just passed and threateningly came face to face with him.  
  
"Of all the moments of disregard you've had for my authority, this, Malfoy, is your last. I need not excuse myself for my tardiness, but I will have you know I was researching long and hard into every possibility before choosing a tonic. Perhaps your loss of privilege has entitled you to join the ranks of the pedestrians, but those of us more careful in such matters do not rush and blindly select elixirs. Twenty-points, and do not make me speak to you about these matters again. I have no patience for trivial predicaments," he spat. More passionate than ever about his calling to Voldemort, Severus's only concern for Potter was his isolation. Hermione would be the perfect bait, and Draco served as a device like no other. The simplicity of Paxia's  
proposal made him wickedly hungry for her every idea, and wasting time with details such as a "potion" for Granger made him sick. She'd get her potion- a simple mix to rid her of both spells- that which his new assistant had attempted to rid of her with, and his own Innocent Spell. Damn Paxia's timing. If he had only known earlier, he would have never diluted the blends...  
  
Shock radiated from every pore in Draco's body. What the hell was going on here? Answering back at Snape was a looming threat, surely. And the twenty-point deduction was deserved, after the 60 points he'd already lost, what was the difference? But...'trivial predicaments'?!?! He seemed to care a damn great deal more about Hermione in class- - and he knew how important it was to get rid of Harry if Draco was to protect Hermione.   
  
Tomorrow night, when the new moon darkened over Hogwarts castle, the Slytherin tower would empty into the blackness for the monthly call to Voldemort. Maybe then Snape would be able to clarify this obvious misunderstanding. For now, it would just have to wait.  
  
******************  
  
*Chapter One. Hermione*  
*^Chapter Two. Draco^*  
*^~Chapter Four. Snape~^* 


	8. Realizations

*Disclaimer: Same ol' same ol', don't own Jack. Where'd that expression come from anyway? I don't know Jack, so how could I possibly own him? Oh well, leave the digressions for another day.  
  
*Reviews:  
~hasapi, Paxia is still a student. Since everyone is a sixth year, and she's a seventh year, she has the option to offer her assistance to teachers as an aide. I don't know if technically in the books you can do that, but this is my story, and it works. lol. And Hermione does have a cute kind of effect on Draco, doesn't she?  
~LA, you're so emotional! Carchidi musta been wondering what you were raving about....never tell her!!  
~Ai Kemi, I've never read Hermione as a Ravenclaw, so I'll have to check those out. As for Draco, bastards serve a purpose, and I like my men tough. Your review was cut off at the end though!! I wanted to read what bothered you about Snape...criticism of any kind is greatly appreciated, so please email me your comments with "Snape Review" in the subject. Thanks!  
~Rainbowvalley103, I'm still deciding whether or not to take you up on your offer, only because I don't want to post an unfinished fic. But keeps your hopes up, I probably will when this is all done.  
~gigiopolis, sorry bout the vocab. AP English will do that to you. But as you'll probably notice the deeper you get into the story, all that excessive writing makes it kind of like a movie that plays in your head. Its fun, you'll enjoy it, I don't doubt that.  
  
*A/N: I apologize for the delay in posting, I took a mental health break. You can't expect a sane, normal person to conjure up these internal struggles now can you? Also, I was posting so quickly because it was Winter Break and I had the time. Since school's starting, and now I have a job, I still plan on being punctual (wish I could say that about everything), but it will be on a weekly, not daily basis. Expect new chapters to be up at the earliest Friday, latest Sunday- which means the site will show it on Monday morning. By the way, some people don't realize that between site updates, you can just go up to the URL at the top of the page and change the last part, for example, chapter=7 to chapter=8 to see if a chapter was uploaded, but the link wasn't created yet. Worst case scenario, it says the chapter doesn't exist.   
One more note, the detentions Draco and Harry will be receiving are not important for the plot, so I have no intention of going into detail about them. You guys know how I love going into detail!  
And finally, for those of you that noticed, *cough* LA *cough*, Oliver Wood did graduate, but since he's not coming back, for sake of argument we'll say he was visiting. I just like his accent and I act these scenes out when I type them. Well, some of them... ; )  
  
Corrupt  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
Realizations  
  
Hagrid's detentions always demanded a certain level of physical exertion to which Draco was  
unaccustomed, and so upon entering the Slytherin common room, his first objective was to seek out a chair which he could sink into while propping his feet over the emerald armrest.  
  
He stretched his limbs and rubbed his tired eyes. As he blinked, he took note of an exhausted Hermione sprawled over her books. He was tempted to laugh, but the only sound to pass his lips was a sigh. Not even six hours had passed since he'd seen her, and she was already making up the work she missed from other classes. Typical.  
  
Draco approached her quietly, so as not to disturb her. It was rare to find such a quiet moment, and he wanted to thoroughly absorb the vision before him. The crown of her head was adorned with a gracefully simmering and waved mane of mahogany. The few threads that obstructed his view of her delicate skin he entwined in his fingers and gently wrapped behind her ears, which he surprisingly found to be pierced, though they'd escaped decorations as far as he knew. Perhaps in his loss of realization as he concentrated on her beauty, his warm fingers on her cold skin lingered for a bit too  
long, and he felt her stir.  
  
He didn't want to disrupt her slumber, but she looked so uncomfortable. She shifted her position, allowing Draco access to her body in such a way that he was able to gingerly life her and place her on the couch, wrapping her in a blanket he retrieved from his new room, which lacked the privacy and superfluous commodities he had grown accustomed to.  
  
But as he carried her, in his arms to the couch, he couldn't help but wish his destination was his  
bedroom. He didn't want to take advantage of her, he just wanted her to be able to stretch out of the fetal position a couch permitted. And if she needed more warmth, he would be there to provide it...  
  
He resisted the thought, and laid her down. Dimming the light in the room by extinguishing several candles, Draco found himself sliding drowsily onto the floor, parallel to her, with nothing but his own arm behind his head.  
  
While they slept, a student came in to remove a book from the center table. When she turned to go, she noticed the couple sleeping. Though some would find the gesture of the girl on the couch while the boy took the floor romantic, she found it to be suspicious- given the particular students involved.  
  
The creak from the door signaled her exit, and to this sound, Hermione jumped up. She glanced at  
the table with her books, remembering having laid down upon them last. As she slowly came into an awakened stretch, she rolled over and saw Draco on the floor, facing the bottom of her "bed". Still not quite comprehending how she got from point A to point B, and pitying him, she stripped off her blanket and covered him. He was so serene when he slept. Like a little boy.   
  
The protection of the blanket from the chill in the room was appreciated by Draco's frozen body, and as his muscles warmed up, he began to slowly rouse himself from his nap. Rolling on to his back, he gazed up, and upon seeing a refreshed Hermione looking down upon him, he couldn't stop a smile from gracing his features.  
  
"I was thinking about you," yawned Draco, politely. He was never one to give trite expressions or greetings. He raised his body into a sitting position, leaning against the sofa, so that his head was next to hers as she laid it back down unto the pillow.  
  
"I was, too," whispered Hermione. She'd given up on concentrating on homework for the night.  
Academics would have to wait, she had other things on her mind, like this sudden affection she was developing for Draco, however hard she attempted at concealing it. Which, wasn't hard at all. Straight A Slytherin prefect, and she was failing miserably with this struggle between heart and mind.  
  
"How are you feeling?" Draco didn't want to remember his encounter with Snape, but knowing that she'd taken a tonic he'd concocted, quite frankly, frightened him at the moment. He didn't think his professor would stoop to such a level, but someone existed that wasn't above it.  
  
"Tired, but better. How about you?" she pointed to his arm, which had stained its bandages.   
  
"I can't feel it. I didn't feel it when I got it, and I didn't really remember it until now," he touched  
his arm, and though the stinging sensation filtered through his system, the impulses never reached his brain. Nothing could at the moment...except her essence. Her eyes, adjusting to the light, and her skin, flushed from sleep, looked so alluring that he wondered if it was possible to be that beautiful in the morning, too.  
  
Sensing his unspoken words, she raised her left arm from where it rested on her side and reached out to run her fingers in his tousled hair. The blonde mingled with chunks of light brown tossed about carelessly gave Draco an aura of roughness through his own beauty. Tilting his head back and to the side, he invited her hand to slide down his face, behind his ear, and tracing his strong jaw line until she found herself barely touching his lips. So soft, so smooth....she wondered how they would feel pressed against hers.  
  
Lightly pecking at her fingertips, he moved his mouth to her hands and wrists. Her fingers found their place in the back of his head and he nuzzled her arm. They both wanted nothing more than that moment, and yet, it seemed as though time had stopped for them.  
  
"Where have you been?" Hermione's whispers floated through the space between them, and settled into Draco's heart.  
  
"Lost..." the battles inside the brilliance of Malfoy were consuming him whole and taking a course which would only lead to his self-destruction. His mind was flooded with unanswered questions, such as the loyalty of Severus Snape, the predator of his precious Hermione, his destiny as a Death-eater, and, ultimately, the clouded struggle in his heart. There were so many things wrong with this  
picture that Draco just wanted to take her and tell the world to fuck off.   
  
If Snape were loyal, his relationships would remain a light topic of conversation, and nothing for anyone to fuss over, except Pansy. If such an allegiance were betrayed, matters would become considerably complicated. As a total muggle, a bind with a total pureblood would be trouble enough; but Draco was a Malfoy- he had a purpose and destiny with Voldemort, who loathed the muggle race with a fiery passion that burned deep within him. And Draco did not endanger only himself in this way, but his potential love as well. It tore him- this development of feelings towards Hermione, and his duty.  
  
"None are lost, but those with no direction. I see it in your eyes, you've already made your choice," and to Hermione, it was apparent. She removed her hand, and got up by supporting herself on his shoulder. As she moved, her hand swung back in rhythm with her feet, and he caught it.   
  
She turned to look down on him. He gently pulled her down into him, and she sat in his lap. Leaning in, he kissed her earlobe and spoke the words that would crumble the walls in Hermione's heart...  
  
"I have. My way home is in you, Hermione."  
  
The world could fuck off.  
  
********************************  
"I don't think its fair that the world rests solely in the palm of your hands" "Remember to breathe" "Its cool to fake romances" "lemon starbursts" "pardon my emo moment" "you don't turn me on" "I'm in an abusive relationship. It's like, "what did you do this afternoon?" *SMACK*" "Don't ever let go" "I will never let you fall"....  
  
Quotes of Winter Break. And pardon my use of the word, but sometimes the best choice is telling the world to fuck off. No regrets, ever. ~Rose. 


	9. The Awakening

*Disclaimer: I ain't J. K.  
  
*Reviews:  
~Sex & Diamonds: here's your chapter. I don't think that Hermione and Draco can fuck each other's brains out. This isn't about sex. This is about romance- this is about the love that every woman deserves and is denied of. This is about Hermione's wants, needs, and the realization that Draco was there all along. I've had a long day, babe, LA heard this speech before.  
~All other reviewers, its late, but I'll acknowledge you in the next chapter.  
  
*A/N: Ok, fine, I lied. There is no way in hell I can post a chapter every week, but I swear I'll never leave you hanging for too long. LA would kill me. On a personal note, I can't write love when I'm not making it, so if this chapter sucks, scream "screw Ohio", no offense to any Ohio babes out there. There's an ass in your midst. And if you know who you are that's reading this, go fuck yourself. You don't inspire me. And for the record, "I understand", I really, finally  
understand.  
Pardon the simplicity of this chapter. The most complex part is 'priapic spasms' from Lysistrata, which we're reading in English. I added it for Kyle's and LA's sake. *shakes head* AP: smarter than the dumb kids, still dumber than the smart kids.  
Oh, and I'm listening to Savage Garden's "Affirmation" CD, just in case you recognize anything in here. Just two lines- let's see if you catch them. That's the CD he wrote after his divorce. Felt appropriate enough. **NUMB**  
  
  
Corrupt   
  
Chapter Nine  
  
The Awakening  
  
Against an emerald couch on the floor of the Slytherin Common Room, Hermione Granger melted into the seat of Draco Malfoy's lap. His touch was gentle, and both felt quite content to slowly explore each other's bodies. Draco embraced Hermione in his strong arms, and with her head against his chest, she breathed in the subtle scent she would come to identify him with.  
  
He raised his hand to trace her face, and as he lifted her jaw to his, they tasted each other for the first time. Her lips instinctively knew their way to meet his, her top lip conforming to the space beneath his, and his tongue longing to touch hers. Parting her lips, not hesitantly but not rushed,  
she allowed his tongue to wet her lips, pass her teeth, and trace the roof of her mouth. It was a feeling like no other. She licked his tongue, tasting it, remembering it, and following it into his own mouth. As his lips closed around hers, she sucked on his tongue, taking in his saliva. The logical, thinking Hermione would shudder at the idea, but this curious, overtaken Hermione wanted to taste everything Draco had to offer.  
  
This may have been Hermione's first kiss, but certainly the best Draco had ever experienced. His closed eyes opened, if but briefly, and the intensity and pleasure washing over her face made him tense. She shifted in his lap, extending the centralized sensation into a wave of feelings that consumed his whole body, and brought every inch of his skin to attention. Slowly, this semi-platonic cuddle was developing into a stronger, intimate heat- enough to send the sensitive fireplace ablaze. The light danced on the couple as they turned their bodies to face each other. Their faces glistened with mutual adoration, and both pulled apart from their intense kisses.   
  
Draco felt for the discarded blanket and spread it out over the floor. If what was going to happen was going to happen, he didn't want it to be any less than perfect for her. For either of them.   
  
Hermione felt so shy all at once. Seventeen years old, and she had just had her first kiss. Was this going too fast? Nothing in her body was refusing, and she moved towards him. Holding his waist- both on their knees- she kissed him again, still holding back for fear of rejection, but more aggressively, with hopes of progression.  
  
Holding her to him, he accepted her kiss, and returned it, accompanied with his hands just under the hemline of her shirt. She did nothing to move them, his hands felt so natural in the bend of her waist. Slowly gliding his hands over her skin, yet just barely touching her, he began to lift her shirt. The teasing lack of touch was beginning to arouse her, and a tingling, wet feeling told her so.   
  
Massaging his lower back, she, too, made her way under his shirt. Knowing he would have no resistance, she tugged at his ribbed sweater and pulled it over his head. His toned body glowed in the dim lighting, and Hermione was pleased with what she'd revealed. Broad shoulders cascading into muscular biceps, rolling into firm forearms and powerful hands. A toned chest, still bare from young adulthood, which she placed her palms upon. Her hands made their way from his collar bone to his nipples, and she rubbed them in a soft circular motion, having no idea the power she had over him in that instant.  
  
Draco leaned over her, dragging his lips down her neck and to her shoulders as he undid the buttons on her shirt, torturously slowly. When the final button released, she removed her hands  
from him, and let his hands guide the fabric down her arms. Her skin was like satin, smooth, soft, and warm. He held her up by her waist as he sat back down on his ankles, licking between her breasts, tracing her toned abs down to her jeans. Grasping the button firmly between his teeth, and cupping her bottom in his hands, he began to remove the denim that concealed his beloved's prize. He slid her pants off of her legs as she held onto his shoulders.   
  
She let her left hand grip the back of his neck firmly, as she sucked his lips again and drifted her right hand onto forbidden territory. His arousal was obvious, and the fact that he needed her lit a desire so intense, Hermione wouldn't need much more to climax. She mimicked his movements, releasing his bulge from its confinement with her teeth. His boxers, black and silver, shone brightly in the fire's light, and accentuated his prominent manhood.   
  
Sensing her lack of expertise and apprehension, and who was he to feign experience?, Draco decided that foreplay would not include fondling, unless she consented to it. He, however, was  
willing to try anything. Pulling her up and against him, his passion just above her's, he slid his hands beside her breasts and unhooked her bra. It was liberating, exposing, and raw. Her brassiere was her security. Without it, she felt open to the world, and she pressed herself to him, hoping he wouldn't look at her in the light.  
  
"Wait, this isn't right," whispered Draco.   
  
Hermione's cheeks reddened. He was disappointed at her. Her body was a total failure to everything he'd ever thought he should see his first time. She just couldn't compete with his  
imagination...  
  
Draco wrapped the blanket around an embarrassed Hermione, but to her surprise, he lifted her and carried her into his former bedroom.  
  
"What? What are you-?"  
  
"Shh," Draco pressed his fingers to her lips as he laid her onto the bed. "I want this to be perfect, because you are perfect and deserve nothing less. They haven't gotten a new Prefect, so this is still mine as far as I'm concerned. I'll be right back," he promised, as he flew into the common room to straighten up, God forbid anyone should come back early. Hermione took this moment to peek into Draco's desk, and of the six or seven ingredients there, she recognized four that she could drip together and ingest as a 'prevention potion' of sorts, if you will.  
  
Feeling safer, knowing she wouldn't stop what she hoped would happen between them, Hermione managed to return to the sheets just as Draco shut the door and muttered the useful fifth year incantation "Spatium Silentius". They couldn't hear out, and out couldn't hear them.  
  
Now cold from his partially-nude expedition, he sought out Hermione's warmth like an enchanted spirit to a fairy. She draped the linens over him and held him firm to her breast. Her hair was spread out over the pillow cases, and she looked like a goddess. His scent, which she'd missed for only moments, was an aphrodisiac that awakened her hibernating sexuality, and her virginal body was now rubbing against his, grinding against him, though still clad in a thin, soaked cloth. Her hands gripped Draco's boxers and slid them down, passing his erected phallus and eventually discarding them by throwing them onto his desk.   
  
Sliding under the blankets, Draco kissed his way down her belly, over her underwear, and circling her clit. He noticed her drenched panties, and thought it best to remove them, for further explorative purposes. His tongue teased her wickedly, licking her left lip and sliding onto her inner thigh. His thumb balanced the torture by pressing unto her other inner thigh, just next to her opening, now throbbing for penetration.  
  
Wanting above everything to please her, but most importantly, to love her, Draco came up to face her. Rolling on top of her, near her opening, but careful to caress every inch of her flesh, he kissed her softly. In that instant, any doubt in Hermione's mind that she would ever love anyone  
more faded. She didn't need an orgasm to know she loved him. She didn't need his tongue, or his arms, or his face, or anything. She just wanted his reassurance. His voice.  
  
His legs wrapped hers, their hips began a slow grind, her back arched drawing her close to him. Her chest heaved under him, and he lifted his body to avoid hurting her more than he thought he might. His hands, god, how to describe them. He knew just how to touch her, comfort her. Let her know that she meant the world to him. This moment, however mutual, was him giving of himself to her.  
  
With both pairs of eyes both wide open, and scared, the virgins consummated the single most spectacular touch of their lives. She awkwardly shifted to accommodate him, but Draco knew that no matter how much it would hurt her, he would have to force himself into her. As he did so, she dug her nails into his shoulders. A tear- of joy, of love, of pain, of need, of grace, of purity- slid down her cheek. The mark remaining on his flesh burned- externalizing his heart and soul.   
  
Speeding up, and learning to slow down and enjoy themselves, Draco and Hermione experimented with their new found connection, and concentrated on their own desires. He knew  
that the deeper he entered her, as his body pressed her mound, she would come closer and closer to climaxing. He prayed she was limber. His hands reached down her ribs, around her back, and to her buttocks. Spreading them, he lifted her pelvis upward- and she cooperated by lifting her knees as high as they would extend. As she felt him sliding into and out of her, she felt a trembling within her- a fiery, hot, tense contraction of arousal.  
  
"Draco-" the words barely escaped her lips. Hermione sharply inhaled and firmly pressed his body against her. Ragged drags of breathing, inconsistent and without pattern, gave way to wave upon wave of explosive muscle constrictions that grasped her lover, and held him with in her.  
  
"Herm- mione..." nothing could compare with this feeling. Overwhelmed with his own priapic spasms, Draco could do nothing to hold himself back from her. Spilling himself deep within her, his mind cleared, and his throat dried. He searched for her mouth, and as they kissed, both breathless, both thirsty, they descended into a conscious level of contentment beside each other.  
  
In their heat, the sheets had slipped off of them, exposing everything from their mid-thighs up. Neither sensed their exposure, and both remained firmly holding on to each other. Not sure what to say next, they smiled. Silly, happy, stupid grins that they would keep splattered on for as long as they could.  
  
"That was, I don't know if there's a word for what that was. You are so beautiful," Draco nuzzled his nose against hers, and the words smeared across her lips.  
  
"I can't believe that happened," a bewildered Hermione let a sigh escape, then shyly confessed, "I'm still shaking."  
  
"I don't think I'll ever stop shaking!" both laughed, enjoying each other's company. Suddenly aware of their nudity, Draco reached for the blanket, not wanting his love to feel cold, but  
Hermione's hand stopped him. She took his hand and brought it to her waist, drawing herself closer than she already was. This was bliss, and she wasn't going to let it go so fast.  
  
"Don't ever let go of me, please, Draco," the notion of what had just occurred between them was beginning to dawn on her, and those barriers he had torn down were starting to rebuild  
themselves. For all she knew, she could wake up the next morning and have this be over and done with.  
  
"Do you- do you love me? Because I've wanted you to for so long, and I've needed you for so long that I can't begin to imagine my life without you, and that scares me Hermione. I've never needed anyone the way I need you, I need you to hold me tonight," the world had deserted him, just as he had decided to let it fall. It was as though someone had kicked him off of the face of the planet, and Hermione had realized he was hanging on by his fingertips, and in this one night she'd save him. She had saved him in this one night.  
  
"I knew it from the moment we met that you would be the one. I can't explain it, I couldn't imagine how or when or why. But I think I loved you before I even knew you existed. I love you, and I'm here and I won't leave you," Hermione took note of a vulnerability in her lover that she had never once imagined existed. He was like a rock- the foundation of everything, strong, supportive, and yet she wore away on him- to his core- as a stream to pebbles. He trusted her, and she had awakened to the idea that she trusted him, too.   
  
She held him to her naked breast, breathing in his musky scent- cherishing that scent. He covered her lips with his own, but this kiss was like a rose petal to her lips. Soft, how he could be gentle when he wanted to be!, and she returned it with an honest sincerity. Entranced, tired, and loved, the couple slept in each other's arms.   
  
"I love you, Hermione," and he would never let her fall. 


	10. Bitter Vengeance

**Disclaimer- I rule the world. Well, most of it anyway. Just not Hogwarts- though Paxia is mine all mine.  
  
**Reviews:  
~PokeyOoOky- lovey-dovey ain't my cup of tea, but those two deserved some serious fluff time after all I put them through.  
~LA- ah, yes, the joys of the fuckrat. I've exacted my revenge. Oh, and the next time Gorski comes in and grabs my disk, remind me not to blush. Oh! And paper jams while printing chapter 5 for the lunch table story time!! Soooo wrong...ketchup!!  
~Midnight Rain- if only this wasn't fiction.  
~Ai Kemi- thanks for the Snape critique. You're right, he's a scary-ass creep...but thanks for realizing his purpose. And you need not fear hyperglycemia- I'm not as saccharine sweet as some other fics I've read can be *shudder*  
~Croft and Sex & Diamonds- I was worried as to how ppl would react to me having Draco say 'fuck off'. There are some lines I don't like crossing. But I'm glad you took those strong words to heart- sometimes love has to over ride logic.  
~hasapi- This story is a journey for me. I don't know how much longer it will take, because my characters are still developing. I have a rough idea of where they're going though- I'm not totally blind- but I don't think even a rough estimate would be appropriate. Hope you don't mind if I let this flow a while longer!  
~sugar- thanks. I didn't want it to be vulgar or dirty or rough. The first time is special, and I wanted to capture it as such.  
~Sex & Diamonds- romantic sex should be followed by fluff, at least, I thought it was appropriate.  
  
**A/N: Fair warning- prepare to be jarred out of romantic bliss.  
  
Corrupt  
  
Chapter 10  
  
Bitter Vengeance  
  
Morning filtered through the pale emerald panes of Draco's former bedroom. As the rising sun strengthened, it penetrated his eyelids, and he pulled the covers over his head to shield himself from the dawning light. He breathed in and heard a soft breath beside him. Eyes still closed, he  
tightened his hold on her and pressed his lips to hers.  
  
She smiled and he felt it.  
  
"You're still here," she whispered.  
  
"Why should I leave?" he questioned, reassuringly.  
  
"I love you," came the honest answer.  
  
"I know. I love you, too." The night before, any confession of love could be dismissed as post-coital joy, harmony, and all that other nonsense. The real test is always the morning after. Those moments when what you've just done sink in, and those first moments define the memories that remain stamped in our hearts and minds for eternity. Those were the most  
important words to utter, and that they did so willingly and, without prodding, sealed their true affections.  
  
The room was mostly packed up, so they had no way of determining the time, but with the strength of the sun, they estimated that it was approximately seven in the morning. Breakfast was downstairs, to be served in a matter of minutes. They could be late and have no one notice, and it would probably benefit them not to cross the common room just then. After all, that room was supposedly unoccupied- eyebrows would raise no matter who walked out.   
  
Since his only coverage was clinging to the edge of a chair too far away for him to grab decently, he clung to the comforter as Hermione wrapped herself in the bed sheets. The linen clung seductively to her hips, and he let her enter the shower alone. There was something magical in the room that he couldn't place, and for once he knew this was the kind of spell you couldn't find in a book or capture in a wand.  
  
Smiling and holding hands, Draco and Hermione rushed through the empty common room, into the corridor, down the staircase, and entered the Great Hall without creating too much commotion. Their robes billowed behind them, and they sat down for a hearty breakfast. Draco served Hermione, and though they brushed it off as his having been raised with manners, they all knew he wouldn't have done that for anyone else. Both famished from the previous night's excursion, the late comers finished their meal first, and began a discussion with the table about the upcoming experiment in Potions. A rumor had circulated that Snape's concoctions were  
dangerous and possibly fatal if done incorrectly; there was no doubt the whole school knew by then what had happened to Hermione yesterday morning.   
  
"Do you want to pair up, Hermione? I mean, I know we don't usually, but I figured that since, well, since," color was beginning to permeate Draco's ears and cheeks, and Hermione cut him off...  
  
"Since you caught me last time?" she laughed. "Of course, my hero," she feigned a swoon. The table began to laugh heartily, but Draco knew she'd saved him this time. What a change- serious Granger and Malfoy...joking around. It was a welcome addition to the group, who all enjoyed a  
laugh, whether it was at a Gryffindor's expense or otherwise. She knew that Draco wanted to pair up for a million reasons...to protect her, to be with her, but possibly above all, because he would screw up his potion if he stared at her the entire time from his seat.   
  
Halfway down the table was the ever darkening form of Paxia. Her moves were always silent, and her voice deep, rich, and velvety. The gentlemen that adorned her as an entourage made aware their inclinations toward the tortured, corrupt soul that she seemed to exude. But Paxia's fate had been sealed otherwise. Yesterday's seduction had the professor glued to her mind, and her to his.   
  
She sat with her back to the wall, able to perfectly take in the Great Halls sights and sounds. Her gaze fell to Harry Potter. His dark hair had been spiked, and she noticed how five years of maturation changed him from an awkward youth of a boy to a strong, powerful, daresay handsome young man. When provoked, he was able to channel a passion only tasted in the past twenty-four hours. A faint smile brushed her lips as she thought of the potential he held, potential to succeed on the dark side. Ah, a Gryffindor trade over? A task unheard of. A task she reveled in  
accomplishing.   
  
As she reached for an orange, her hand was met by Goyle's. It was careless, neither really noticed, but it shifted her gaze to just beyond his burly physique and unto Draco and Granger. Carefully observing their conversation, Paxia realized that, while their discourse was public at  
the table, they were constantly stealing sly looks to each other. And smiles. *So, the night before hadn't ended when I left. And they didn't break the rules, because they really didn't leave Slytherin House. Oh, Snape.....* she thought, tauntingly.  
  
Ms. Devastarium needed no encouragement to expose her findings to Snape. Any exposition in front of him at the moment would be fine with her, and at this thought she nearly smirked aloud. His body and mind were hers, but what of his affections? She had won him over for Voldemort.  
Now she wanted to win him over for herself.  
  
As the masses exited the room, Severus followed her every movement with his eyes. Their next destination was one and the same. That would be quite an event to get over, having her body- that same body he'd disrobed but a day prior- next to him....Gathering his thoughts he rose, and  
having not planned a single lesson for the day, he hoped she had something up her sleeve. Knowing her, though not well, he still felt as though she would.  
  
A sight escaped his concentration. But not Paxia's, or anyone else's for that matter. Hermione's hand had taken residence in the grasp of Draco's. Lavendar giggled at Pansy's fury. Crabbe scratched his head alongside Goyle's confusion.   
  
And Harry's heart splintered into pieces so irreconcilably broken, he questioned if it would ever beat again.  
  
****  
  
Reaching the room before anyone, Severus attempted to collect himself and his notes enough to successfully torment his students with unnecessary questioning to escape the actualization that he had nothing with which to inform them. No potions to teach, no lessons to dictate, nothing.  
  
"Why Severus, I assume we are on a first name basis, why the puzzled look?" her voice echoed in the empty room, and every nerve in his body tingled into attention. He captured her eyes with his own, and she smiled, evilly, yet so beautifully. Why, dammit? Why couldn't he control  
himself.   
  
"I suggest you avoid pulling any stunts today. You need an air of professionalism this first morning- don't forget your guise- my assistant. I am in control, and you are here to assist. Stay behind the table at all times and follow my lead," he instructed.  
  
"And what lead would that be?" she knew how flustered she'd made him. Ah, to have him at her mercy was a sweet morsel she melted in her mouth. Though at the moment, chocolate was the furthest thing from her mind that she wanted to toy with on her tongue.   
  
She found her way behind his lab table, and brought her hand to his neck. She pecked his lips and pulled back and away. Her hand moved lower and lower as she kneeled in front of him. Moving his robes aside, she found the fly of his pants and began fulfilling her current need. With an open  
grade book in front of him, Severus grabbed a pencil and pretended to work.  
  
The class entered cautiously, and mingled for a few moments while their professor appeared to be busy. If he yelled, it wouldn't be the first time, but at that instant he didn't seem to notice their existence. Paxia opened a drawer with her free hand, and pulled out a vile of wolf hair. As he  
came into her mouth, Snape broke the pencil he had been holding and looked, stone-faced and firmly, onto the back wall. Zipping him up and standing, she grabbed his arse as she held the vile in front of his face and proclaimed...  
  
"Found it Professor Snape. Now, class, if I could have your attention, please," the devilish actress that she was had done such a job of Snape, that she'd rendered him speechless. Time to take charge. After Snape's pencil snapped, however, the class was already in a frightened silence. It  
was his grade book he stood over after all. God knows they figured someone had done something to piss him off so badly their house was about to reach a debt of points.  
  
"I am Paxia Devastarium, Professor Snape's newest teaching assistant. I am a seventh year Slytherin, so I think I know several of you already. My first assignment was to create a potion lab for you to perform. I'm not as masterful in this subject as my mentor is, however, I attempted as best I could. Please gather the following ingredients, and then pay attention to my instructions..." she spoke calmly, coldly, not unlike the feminine form of Snape might appear. Her mention of Snape's name brought him to attention, and he regained his composure. Grabbing her arm, he sharply whispered into her ear...  
  
"What the hell do you think you're doing? Taking charge? They'll think me a fool- weakened, lenient..."  
  
"No such thing. They'll think me the ultimate prodigy of Severus Snape, and fear me as they would fear you. Besides, the properties of wolf's hair are perfect for a little experiment I want to do. Have you noticed something professor?" she motioned to the lab table where Draco and  
Hermione were stationed. At that instant Draco brushed her hair back from her eyes, and she leaned into his touch. Friendly? Too friendly. Now Snape understood her instigation, but what of her intentions?  
  
"Can you trust me?"  
  
"Not your mouth...but your mind is another thing. Just tell me what you're intending to do to them."  
  
"The Dubious Potion disguised as an Attraction Elixir. The students assume they will be drawn to each other through primal attraction, when they will actually be drawn to the person they doubt the most. In the case of innocent crushes, they will seem almost magnetized to the object of their affection, but in the instance of true love- Exhibit A," Paxia shifted her gaze to the young couple, "they have no doubt of the intentions of the other. And so her doubt should be cast upon the one person she lost yesterday, if you recall..."  
  
In that flash of cognition, Severus felt her take the presence of Voldemort himself. This would be fun.  
  
"Now," Snape took over the instruction, "before consuming your potions, since this is a mentality based spell, think of the person you feel yourself drawn to the most, and let us witness if your hearts and minds are as connected as you believe them to be." A power came over Severus and Paxia unlike anything they had ever experienced. A cold wind blew open a window and papers flew into a swirl of confusion.   
  
The classroom silenced in concentration, and slowly, each student downed their concoction, all eyes staring intently on Hermione, guiltily expecting another reaction. Toes grew numb, knees weak, and stomachs turned. Feelings of weightlessness washed over bodies, and levitations began to occur unconsciously.   
  
The first to lift was the light body of Pansy. All assumed her destination lay in the arms of Draco, but her honest doubt of loyalty was with Lavendar. The girls blushed. It was their friendship each knew as being on the rocks, but to the class, under the pretense of attraction, couple number one had been formed. No matter how hard they attempted to free themselves, the girls feverishly began to question their sexuality. This potion was going to ruin lives. And it hadn't even begun to run its full course yet.  
  
Other students drifted towards each other, some with surprisingly positive results. Love was beginning to blossom in the cold depths of Potions class. Hermione felt her heart lift, and Draco's remained annoyingly unaffected. The beautiful woman by his side became enveloped by a glow he came to recognize as the affirmation of his love for her....or was it? Gripping the sides of the table to the point where her knuckles turned white, her body lifted into the plane between floor and ceiling. Reaching for Draco, she moved backwards, down the aisle, and into the arms of-  
  
Harry Potter.  
  
Pale as the color of an invisibility cloak, Draco's mouth gaped open. His, his love. His first love, first romance, first touch, really loved Harry Potter. The level of disgust and disbelief that showered his features was indescribable. That- she- that, she even- that he even ever thought he  
would love anything or anyone and now this? This killed him, and Draco gasped for air as he clutched his chair, flinging it into the already weakened lab table, sending it and the equipment it supported crashing to the floor. Struggling to breathe, struggling to walk, he ran drowned in stale tears that bitterly blurred his vision.  
  
"No! Draco!" Hermione screamed- punching against Harry's chest. The magnetism their doubt held was so strong it was unbreakable. Heaving against her own sobs, her heart wrenching and suffering in this twisted agony, she tried desperately in vain to free herself from his body. Harry  
couldn't understand what was going on. He didn't love her- if anything he'd grown to avoid acknowledging her existence. He wanted to comfort her, but instead he turned his back, and they remained that way for quite a time, until the spell wore off at the end of the hour.   
  
The class, basking in fraudulent realizations, starkly surmised the situation. Still screaming, her voice growing hoarse, Hermione indirectly professed her ultimate love for Draco. She struggled against Harry's pull more and more strongly as the class progressed, until the potion wore off and she finally freed herself, slamming into the door, pushing it open and speeding down the hall.  
  
Staring after her, Snape felt the need to make something apparent to the students.  
  
"Some times intentions are not as they appear."  
  
****  
  
"What was that, Paxia? The Dark Lord himself wouldn't stoop to that level. You've all but given them the rope by which to hang themselves. You are a cruel, heartless, evil," began Severus, accusingly. He had to back off of this. Draco was sensitive to persuasion, and what had just occurred, he knew, was enough to send him over the edge. Snape wondered how the youth had even begun to fall in love. He cared for Hermione, that was well known, but not in this manner. He saw her as a means by which Voldemort could assuage his power, and Draco, still not quite knowing which way to turn, protected her for fear of good and evil.   
  
"Evil what? Evil temptress? Evil bitch? Evil, here's a notion, Death-eater spy? I have obligations to fulfill Severus. You are nothing but a means by which I will fulfill them. My job here is done. I thought you had understood that, I thought perhaps we'd connected on another level, one that was higher than just sex and power," she knew just what she had done. But guilt wasn't an emotion that registered in her heart. Her loyalties lay completely and totally with Voldemort. Her life lay in servitude to his influence. He would rise, and she would be at his side, above all else.   
She turned to storm out, but he grasped her arm and spun her to face him. His look was penetrating, and she suddenly felt naked. A tear streamed down her face.  
  
"And I thought I saw you turn after you'd accomplished yesterday's mission. I suppose we were both mistaken." With that, he shoved his whore away from him. She stumbled and fell, and his body overshadowed her. She won. She had been victorious. But she didn't feel fulfilled.   
  
*Slytherins had no depth to themselves but to duty*  
  
*Slytherins are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves*  
  
The thoughts rang her head, pounding against her skull. Without so much as a breath, she rose to her feet in front of her professor. "I will see you tonight. And this will have been a victory. You've yet to see that Severus, but I already have. I just wish you could have seen this, too."  
  
Paxia left the classroom, and she would never return to it again. She had one more project to attend to, and it would take every last bit of her strength to commit the final corruption. 


	11. The Corruption

**Disclaimer: My timing will never be this good again. I don't own Potter & co. and only Paxia and the plot is mine.   
  
**Reviews: Impossible to have any, b/c I posted this at the same time as Chapter 10.  
  
**A/N: Trust me. Just trust me.  
  
Corrupt  
  
Chapter Eleven  
  
The Corruption  
  
His stomach heaved, and through burning tears he barreled into the corridor devoid of students that were engrossed in their studies, class being in session at the moment. Thoughts not quite coalescent, his legs carried him to the nearest exit, and he plowed through it- not in anyway fazed by the pain in his shoulder.   
  
Stumbling, quivering, and taken by the snow on the field, Draco lost all control of his physical self the same way he'd rejected ownership of his heart last night. She had it now, and she had taken that heart and incapacitated its ability to function ever again. Damn him for ever believing the rebellious Granger that provoked his fight with Potter would ever change. He had nothing anymore. He couldn't claim loyalty to the light or dark side. Voldemort wouldn't want his useless mind, the same mind that had fallen for beauty and intelligence over usefulness and integrity.   
  
He leapt through the entrance of the Astronomy Tower, if only to run its height and take off. To fly. To fall to the floor and escape the misery that haunted him, tormented him, held him captive. But it wasn't meant for him. Not yet. Collapsing into a convulsive mess of physical tire and mental destitution, Draco gave into his tears and sobbed in pain. A pain that tore into every muscle and bone, and which he felt could potentially kill him, and he wouldn't deny it the chance.  
  
Hermione's soul was in no less of a obscured state. She loved Draco, loved him with a passion that she thought was clearly exuded in her expressions, thoughts, actions, words. Harry was a question mark, he meant nothing to her anymore, and it wasn't easy to have admitted that placement, but she openly professed it in class. Harry meant nothing to her. She needed Draco- his touch and reassurance. That potion was a fraud, and Draco was right, she should have been more cautious in a house of Slytherins. Even teachers were not to be trusted. But wasn't this the work of Paxia.......dammit! Paxia Devastarium! Was she so blind as not to have seen it before? The control she had over Snape's class, her demeanor, her acknowledgment of the existence of the word 'attraction'? No Slytherin in their right mind as dark as Snape or Paxia would let such a word become introduced into their vocabulary unless intentions had been otherwise. She had to find him. To find him and hold him and tell him that he was her world and that they needed each other if they were to overcome this new threat. The threat of Severus Snape and Paxia Devastarium.  
  
Pleadingly she ran, looking through each window in Hogwart's castle. She saw a silhouetted shadow against the purity of the fallen snow, and it stemmed from the Astronomy Tower. Hermione cried out as though she'd been stabbed....  
  
*It had been cold, and she feverish. Her aching limbs were forced to run at an accelerated pace to please their commander, however harsh her wish. Commencing at the grass-starved base of the tower's entrance, her inner-hatred began to collect and spill over. She climbed, grasping the stone walls and touching the air with every exposed inch of her flesh. It came. It all finally came and claimed her as its own. The power. The thoughts. Racing. Speeding. Slowing her down until she crumpled in her steps- the feet that brought her so far disobeyed and she cursed them silently through her bitterness. In her fall, the lamp she carried shattered- and the hope it provided for vision splintered into her skin. With it came the trickle she aimed for. The stickiness found its way from every incision to her robes, and renewed her sense of urgency. She ran- faster- until she found what she desired...*  
  
She knew a dream that powerful couldn't have been normal. This was their destiny. This was the fate that they had been sealed into. But she hadn't succeeded in her quest. She had to make him falter.  
  
Speeding into the tower, she raced the clock. The snow had numbed her feet, and the pain traveled through her veins. The screaming echoed down to her ears, and she knew she'd found him. Further, up, past the shadows, past the stone, through the pain, the doubt, the fear of failure, she found her target collapsed beside the window he grasped the edge of with his bleeding hand.  
  
"You're killing me. You got me and you lied. I hate you. I can't bear the sight of you. Go to hell and let me die here alone, with the only person that ever gave a damn about me. Myself," Draco screamed, ripping his voice through the silence. It was too much to bear. She had followed him to apologize? To admit it? She lied, she never gave a damn about him and he had put down his defense to her. To Her. To Hermione. Hermione. The name clouded his sanity and he struggled to his feet, holding himself, chest open to the chill air of the open window.   
  
"I can't describe my love for you. Because if I did you wouldn't believe it. Something in that room wants us dead and I don't want to witness it. They've got us Draco. They know it, and they're going to kill us. And if you jump I'm jumping with you. They'll win and we'll lose. And God knows the whole school will burn in Hell with Voldemort because of Severus Snape and Paxia Devastarium," the suicide pact she'd just forged was created out of desperation, but not without its blatant honesty infused between the lines. His destruction would kill her, and if they jumped, it would be together.  
  
Blinking back his fury, Draco was swept by his self-doubts. He didn't want to die. He wanted to hold her, he wanted her to hold him. He was scared to be alone right now, and she sensed it. Cautiously approaching him, she placed her arm between himself and the window, pulling him from it. He crumbled in her arms and they collapsed, weeping, against each other.  
  
"I'm done fighting Draco, I don't want to fight them anymore," the fight against the Voldemort was enough, but if she had to fight him during class, too, she wouldn't be able to sustain herself for very much longer. "I'm tired, and I just don't want to fight anymore."  
  
"Tonight. Come with me tonight. They've won anyway, they've got what they want. They wanted a pureblood to join the ranks and take the muggle world to hell in a handbasket," his purpose became clear now. Fate was sealed. Another Malfoy would be seated to the side of the Dark Lord himself.   
  
Clutching each other in absolute terror of the decision they'd just made, Draco placed his lips on Hermione's, and heated the flame between them. This would be the end. When the new moon darkened the night sky, the Slytherin tower would empty and the sun would cease to rise.  
  
****  
  
Harry Potter made his way from class amidst stares. He'd torn apart the whole lives of Draco and Hermione with one simple potion. His guilt was immeasurable, and he cut class to sit in the Gryffindor Common Room silently. Mouthing the password as though his voice had abandoned him as everyone else had, he slipped beyond the painting, unknowingly followed.  
  
His feet led him to the ruby colored rug embellished with gold. He made it no further than the fringe when his knees buckled. He sat against a chair, holding his knees to his chin like a child, and staring blankly ahead of him. Hermione would never trust him again. She was convinced he loved her, and she probably hated him for it. He never meant for her to come near him! He didn't know what to make of it all.   
  
Out loud he whispered....  
  
"I don't love her. I don't know anything anymore. I just wish I could be done fucking fighting all the time. She's killing herself being with him. Something is going to get her, someone is behind all of this and the day I find out, I will kill them. Tear them piece by piece for the torture they bring to her. I do love her. I- I love her. Dammit, not enough to hurt her. I can't- I do, but I can't..." Harry's monologue grew more and more detached and incomprehensible.  
  
"Our choices are our own, Harry, and we can't control them," a voice came from the shadows.  
  
"Paxia! How did....?"  
  
"I had to sneak in. You looked shattered and I couldn't help but feel sorry for you. I know that feeling, you know. Knowing you were doing what you were doing because you had to, and then having it blow up in your face," she took a seat next to him, and brought his face close to her chest. Her bold move would have normally been rejected, but Harry resigned to her hold. He needed to be held, and it released the flood gates of his heart. Not tears, but sighs, anger, frustration, and hatred. And love.  
  
Why did she see right through him? Neither quite understood it, but both froze there. He looked into her eyes.  
  
"If you know what I feel right now, if you've ever felt the same, then what do I do to get rid of this? How does this hurting go away? What am I supposed to do, Pax?"  
  
She leaned into him and kissed him- hard. Harry remained in a frozen block of mess, but his lips had melted. He kissed her back.   
  
"This isn't right," he whispered against her lips.  
  
"But its what we want," she whispered back, pulling his legs down and freeing his arms, which took her captive.  
  
"We can't Pax, its not right, and I don't know how to do anything...." the innocent first year emerged, but the sixth year body remained, and hardened to her requests.  
  
"You'll learn."  
  
****  
  
She pulled herself away from him after they'd finished. His mind was tousled in a stunned turn of events. As they dressed, they kissed, and would have continued the tryst, had it not been for the darkness dripping down the walls. Nightfall was approaching.  
  
"I have to go," she explained, pulling herself away.   
  
"I'm coming with you. I'll walk you to your dorm and then I'll come back here- no one has to know," he wasn't a user, or a jerk. He was still a gentleman.  
  
"I'm not staying in my dorm all night, and even if I was, I don't think you should be anywhere near Slytherin tower right now," she knew that bit of information would lead him into her territory.  
  
"Where will you be later?" he whispered against her ear lobe. She'd drugged him with attention, and he was suffering from withdrawal.  
  
"Meet me outside of the Quidditch field. Dress in black, hooded. Tell no one, and make not a sound," she pressed her finger to his lips, "then you'll discover the side of me you don't know exists. Yet."  
  
Harry Potter. The light to break the darkness. The muggle to fight the purebloods. The hope and salvation of good. The virgin to battle corruption....  
  
Had become corrupt. 


	12. Corrupt

**Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling would never do this to her precious creations. Only I would.  
  
**Reviews: I broke 50, but I really want more, and I know you guys are more opinionated than that! C'mon! Review!!!!  
~Ed, thanks for finally getting around to reading it. I'm sure you'll enjoy the rest.  
~hasapi, I left you speechless! I'm so happy! Half of the charm of this story is the confusion, and if you can trust me, though this chapter will confuse you more, everything will clear up in the end. And as for the 'eep', I thought Draco was corrupt enough. We needed to infiltrate Gryffindor.  
~FireSylph, yay! A new fan! I'm glad you caught on to the visual aspect of this fic, and as for your suggestion, I'm not sure what else I can do with Hermione and Draco, but if I do make another fic I'll always judge it by the caliber of this one and hope that you will keep me on tabs with my work, in terms of quality.  
~Sex & Diamonds, lol, about Paxia...yea. You'll see. I'll explain why I took that "die Paxia bitch die" threat to heart after the last chapter. And sex is a tool for power as much as it is for love. The power has already been assuaged, so there's no need for the sex stuff now. Sorry to disappoint you there, but I hope you'll understand.  
~LA, damn, if you cried then, what are you gonna do now? Don't hit me at lunch for what I'm going to put you through this chapter.  
  
**A/N: Well, if the last chapter didn't elude that this chapter would be dark, I failed in my quest. This chapter is full of angst, is harsh, bitter, and will make some of you *cough* LA *cough* a bit, shall we say, sensitive. I'm sorry I had to do this, but it had to be done. This isn't the last chapter, so don't worry too much. Also, I saw Chamber of Secrets Saturday night, and I highly recommend it to anyone!! That was really good- but did any one else notice that "Draco" sounded like he always had food in his mouth? I refuse to believe he has a lisp. I refuse to!!  
  
Corrupt  
  
Chapter Twelve  
  
Corrupt  
  
Softly crunching through the snow, a pair of footsteps found their way from a back entrance of Hogwart's and to the Quidditch fields. The moonless sky was accented with dim bursts of heavenly, celestial spotlights, which filtered nonchalantly through the trees. The cloth which covered the audience towers rippled in the wind, which, though bitingly cold, merely whispered and faded back from whence it came. Reaching out a hand, leaning against the wooden beams on the playing field, she reached out and removed the invisibility cloak, to reveal a tall stature of a man she had known but hours ago, wrapped in black- visage hidden.   
  
Pressing against her, he questioned the purpose of his risky excursion. She silenced him, and began to walk- slowly at first, then more briskly, until they were at a near sprint. Waves of such silently dark apostles filtered through the marshy entrance of the Dark Forest, through the poisonous weeds, under enchanted branches, witness but non-partakers to the wicked world around them- - pending their arrival to a guarded brush of dying embers, kept glowing by the breath of an unseen demon.  
  
Mechanically, the pair descended into abandoned building created beneath the floor of the life amidst the trees, only to be followed, some twenty students behind, by Draco and Hermione. Snape took to the shadows, and caught Harry and Paxia's entrance. Had the damn soul within him contained any sense of conscience, he would have shed the tears an innocent would pour in witnessing four promising youths take passage into this world. Instead, he stared. Watched, closely. For Severus himself had joined this world as a youth, and the mark on his arm forbade him to withdraw from it.  
  
Disappearing into the sea of black, Paxia found her way to a cauldron set in front of a backdrop of stone. Sharp inhalations met in unison as the cauldron's contents spilled forth and bubbled to produce the chassis of none other than Lord Voldemort. Freezing in shock, Harry nearly removed his hood in hopes of seeing if it was really her. Could Paxia really be that close in a connection with Voldemort? But he refrained, exposure now could mean trouble later.  
  
Draco gripped Hermione's hand tightly. Neither obtained the strength to cry or collapse, having exhausted both earlier. Exanimate, their expressions remained numb and heartless. In moments the initiations would commence, and Draco Malfoy would succeed his father as the most powerful Malfoy in history. Each generation becoming progressively stronger with the acquisition of new recruitments for the Dark Lord, Draco knew it was his predestination.  
  
The crowd circled the cauldron and its contents. From it, Death Eaters came forth and took positions next to their leader in order of importance. Paxia to his left. Snape to his right. Lucious Malfoy right behind him. A voice stirred the quiet, mesmerizing, enchanting, and wholly captivating- incapacitating the whole gathering....  
  
"This twenty-sixth day of the third year in this millennia commences the initiation of our youngest generation. Each of you have sealed your fates as undertakers of my work, each of you will carry my orders and bring to my disposal the muggle community. The wizards of this world have shamed our blood, and with you, we will reclaim our purity. Extend your arms." Voldemort's voice reverberated through each mind, and simultaneously, for every initiate in the room, an existing follower grabbed a wrist. Black iron spikes were emblazoned with the seal of the Dark Lord, and dipped into the cauldron. Steaming, they were held to the skin of the children, for what were these students but children, until fully absorbed.  
  
Draco's skin singed and swelled, his pure blood beneath boiling. Engulfing this epidermal offender, the black seal officiated his new life as follower of Voldemort. His eyes turned to Hermione, who's skin had blistered, white as snow, and bleeding. Her blood boiled as well, but it could not receive of the magic- her's having no such purity of wizard heritage. The apostle meant to mark her freed her arm from the branding's torture, and resumed it in his own hand. Draco was held back as she was brought to the fore-front.   
  
Harry Potter's arm suffered the same fate, and he, too, was brought before Lord Voldemort.  
  
In a single gesture, their hoods were removed, and even the habitual silence of the room was forced to usurpation by surprise. Muggles attempting to join the ranks of the Pure bloods would not be tolerated, and to have his enemy at his mercy made the task of killing him all the sweeter. Voldemort lifted his cloak laden arms and levitated a petrified Harry and Hermione into the air. Drawing nearer to the boiling fatality that awaited them into the cauldron, their bodies stiffened, preparing to take their last breaths.  
  
Paxia's demeanor changed from that of a reserved vigilant to that of a panicked lover. Her body catapulted past Voldemort, resisting a grab from Severus, and she leapt to the platform, propelling herself into the molten liquid as a sacrifice. Her body screamed as she churned into an oozing liquidization. Harry's body collapsed to the floor, heaving and sweating from his returned state of mobility. In similar fashion, Draco lunged forward to claim his own future for the sake of Hermione, but he was stopped- petrified much in the state of his beloved, by the same demonic creature.  
  
Severus was taken aback with guilt and resentment. She was eighteen- beautiful, brilliant, and the one woman that had ever shown him strength. No matter what her will, he had begun to love her, and his reservations cascaded into mourning. His eyes shown with mirror-pools of sorrow, and even a death threat from Voldemort would be welcomed by him, if he could only join her now. But she would not have it so, even in death. Her final choice had been the salvation of Harry Potter. But why? Certainly not for love. She could not love. It was not in her capacity to do so. Voldemort had let her kill herself- he had other plans.  
  
Bruised from the fall, Voldemort's greatest threat was allowed to escape death. The sacrifice of Paxia had strengthened the Dark Lord, and his powers overwhelmed those of his rival. Unconscious, Harry was let to lay there, unopposed for the time being. The levitated bodies of Hermione and Draco were settled to the floor, as Voldemort saw what no one else had. The true purpose of Hermione's induction into Slytherin. Hermione, as a pure muggle, would be his connection into that world which he so loathed. Through her, he would attain such a passage, and magic would devastate non-magic, eliminating the existence of all muggles, and leaving only his kind to take over.   
  
"Incidere per obtinere il liquidus de vita. Miscere corrumpere et purus. Destruere le donares et revivere il apostolos di guerre..." The chant began in the mind of Voldemort, but his near-telekinetic powers made the room well aware his intentions. Incisions became evident on the scars of Draco and Hermione, and as their life bearing liquid drained from them, hers mixed with his. The red, stickiness from the blood marked the stone floors, draining into the remains of Paxia's corpse. A mass began to appear in the form of a woman- the same woman that had sacrificed herself. Voldemort had reincarnated the body of his most loyal disciple by mixing the blood of a muggle with the blood of a pure wizard. She now matched the potency of Harry Potter, and as he shook from his sleep, Paxia's full figure solidified and sought vengeance.  
  
Kicking aside the breathless bodies of Draco and Hermione, an enraged creature expressing the wrath of her creator levitated Harry Potter and threw his tired frame against the stone wall. Stumbling, but realizing his situation, Harry reached for his wand- only to discover he hadn't brought it. He looked up and-   
  
"Paxia," he whispered. His mind became flooded with his feelings for her. What was she doing to him? Could she hear him? Who was this woman before him? The questions remained unanswered, and she continued to forcefully pursue him. He knew what he had to do, he just couldn't believe it would be with her.   
  
"Petrificus totalis," he yelled, but to no avail. With out a wand, that spell was useless. He needed a broader order. Or something that didn't require specifications. Seizing a rock by his shoe, Harry heaved it at his former classmate, nailing her shoulder. She winced, long enough for Harry to remember a fourth year taunt...  
  
"Il che captare, collabi," with that, his pursuant fell in her strides, and seizing a broken remnant of glass, repeatedly plunged, guiltily, into Paxia's body. Her blood splashed, soaking the skin of her murderer, and the skin of the bodies beside her. With each stab, Harry cried. Cried for himself, and cried for his crimes. His own sacrifice to save humanity. 


	13. Innocence Spared

**Disclaimer: I told you, J. K. Rowling is nicer than I am, so of course these characters are hers, but the plot is mine.  
  
**Reviews:  
  
**A/N: I actually wrote this right after I wrote Chapter 12, but what fun is a cliffhanger if I post the next chapter right away? Bwa ha ha.  
  
Corrupt  
  
Chapter Thirteen  
  
Innocence Spared  
  
Slumping over, the unidentifiable body of Paxia Devastarium was truly, and finally, lifeless. Voldemort's final shield against Harry Potter had been defeated, and Harry, streaked with tears, sweat, dirt, and blood- now writhing with hatred- knew this.   
  
In a physical attack, none which had ever been known by the detached fighters which wizards are- those who use magical, as opposed to physical, force- Harry rammed into Voldemort and sent him reeling backwards. Taking down Lucious Malfoy as he fell, both men met their end as Potter enlisted in Severus' assistance to lift the cauldron that had wrought so much turmoil and evil and pour its contents over their bodies.   
  
The shrill screams echoed long into the night. If one listens hard enough, it is said that their cries curse the sky when the wind blows through the trees, and that their struggles hit the clouds forming thunder.   
  
The entire crowd began to fade, in disbelief and fear at what they had just witnessed. Each hooded observant fled into the night, to hide in the Slytherin tower, to pretend it had never happened, to feign innocence in the dawning day. Slowly, all that was left were the blood soaked, dead bodies of Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, the shaken Severus Snape, and a lonely, fatigued Harry Potter, who had witnessed the murders of his greatest school rival, destined rival, and lover. Holding the same weapon with which he had saved the muggle world with, Harry pressed the glass to his wrist.  
  
"Stop," cautioned Snape. So this is why she saved him. Because Voldemort needed a way to kill him, and she knew that she would be his vehicle. She gave up her life to Voldemort. She gave up her virginity to Snape- for Voldemort. She gave up her soul to Harry- for Voldemort. And now she had given her body to mixed blood as a way of killing that same Harry Potter- for Voldemort. Looking at this boy, ready to kill himself because of what his own life had called him to do, Severus knew that this wasn't over.   
  
Paxia's blood was that of Draco and Hermione- it wasn't her own. Their smeared bodies were tainted with themselves. If it were true, if Paxia was right in her suspicion that they had known each other more intimately, then a spell to infuse the spilt blood into their corpses would prove successful, because they had already shared other forms of bodily fluids, and their bodies would not reject it.  
  
"Absorbere Vitalis."  
  
A mystified Harry looked on as life was absorbed back into their bodies. Taking progressively stronger breaths, their beaten forms took on an air of innocence. Severus and Harry removed their forsaken robes and covered the two with them, wrapping them, and carrying them back to Hogwarts- Harry with Hermione, Severus with Draco.  
  
The walk was long, but the Dark Forest isn't as isolating and complex when you have a dawning day filtering through its leaves. Passing Hagrid's home, they knew they'd found their way out- and both felt more relieved than words do justice to say.   
  
*****  
  
Breakfast in the Great Hall continued on as usual. Gryffindor, Raven-claw, and Huffle-puff tables made on with their usual topics of conversation. Slytherin table, however, had not the appetite to eat, or the courage to feign confidence. None spoke. Hermione and Draco were dead for all they knew, and Paxia was killed by Harry Potter, who had destroyed the man they once knew as Lord Voldemort. Their scars remained, though more as a painful reminder of the past than an attachment to their leader.   
  
The doors opened, and all heads turned as Harry Potter limped into the Great Hall, being supported by Severus Snape. Silence permeated the room, and as they held the doors open, Draco and Hermione, looking like hell, but alive none the less, made their way down the center aisle, followed closely by Potter and Snape. Dumbledore rose, and made his understanding clear.  
  
"Though what our students engage in outside of Hogwarts is none of my concern, when it infiltrates our walls and threatens the lives of the students we have been entrusted with, it demands the attention of the faculty. The lives of Slytherin were in this way threatened by the faction known as Death-Eaters, a faction promoted by our own Severus Snape. I hereby decree that our potions master is no longer employed by our institution, and all privileges he has ever attained here are permanently suspended. Furthermore, it should be noted that this faction, led by Lord Voldemort, is no longer in existence, since Harry Potter has fulfilled his prophesied destiny and destroyed the Dark Lord himself. For this, Harry Potter will be considered a legend and historical figure to all who should be made known of the existence of Hogwarts, Witchcraft, and Wizardry. For this, Harry Potter will join Severus Snape in suspension of privilege and titles. Finally, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy, who, for lacking perseverance and integrity chose the easier road to follow and attempted initiation into the cult of the Death-Eaters, will seek comfort in each other when I am through suspending you as well. The four of you have barely made out with your lives, and I am ashamed to consider myself one of the many that attempted to teach you the obvious boundaries of what dictates Black Magic from White Magic."   
  
Albus Dumbledore stupefied his students and colleague with his words. They had defeated Voldemort, sacrificed themselves for the good of muggles so that the world would never need to know about the existence of the Dark Lord, and now they had all been expelled?  
  
Hermione began to cry. She couldn't stand anymore, and Draco held her to him. Harry took Draco's shoulder in his hand, and they shared the weight of the girl together. Snape looked from the three, to the headmaster, and back again. He should have known that following Voldemort would lead to nothing but isolation. He turned to leave. Tonight he would pack, and Hogwarts would be a distant memory.  
  
"In spite of your atrocious disrespect for this school, disregard for the rules we've established here, and dishonor you have cast upon Slytherin House, I grant to Severus Snape the position of Assistant Head Master. With your expertise, and experience in the Dark Arts, I am putting my trust in you that you will use your knowledge to our own good and advancement. The position is yours Severus- if you feel you can look to me as a leader, if you feel you can convert to the 'other side' of magic," Dumbledore spoke truly. He didn't fear Snape, after all, the discovery that Granger and Malfoy were alive simply because of his knowledge- both into their personal lives and his own of magic- put his heart to rest.  
  
"I would be honored," Severus whispered. The bitterness remained, but this was a moment of sheer surprise, and he couldn't muster any form of insolence if Voldemort himself came back and forced him to.  
  
"To Harry Potter, with honor and prestige comes responsibility. It is your responsibility to undertake Gryffindor House. Not as a student, not as Head Boy, and not as a Prefect. But as an example. Your position is here, amongst the faculty, as a colleague. Your education and personal gifts prepared you for the fight of your life, and Hogwarts would be blessed to have you in our midst to educate us in the same manner of spirit and strength."  
  
"Yes, Headmaster," Harry bowed, stunned. But Dumbledore was right- there was nothing left for Harry at Hogwarts, but to teach the future generations of witches and wizards how to defend themselves when rendered magically defenseless. It was a skill one acquires as a muggle living with other muggles. And he was ready.  
  
"To Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy. Your union is a most potent one, as I am sure you have come to realize. What you have yet to realize is that this very union will produce the next leader of Slytherin House. A pureblood as powerful as a Malfoy, who for the longest reign served Voldemort as nearly next of kin, with the only pure muggle ever to have been sorted into Slytherin House has its own powerful reverberations, repercussions that will define our future. May you serve your purposes well, as you bring the muggle world and magical world together as one. God speed."  
  
Hermione and Draco looked at each other, and in that instant, Hermione took his hand in hers, and pressed it to her abdomen. Welcome to the future. 


	14. LRS

Literary Review Sheet  
  
Title: Corrupt  
Author: RoseWithThorns  
Classification: Harry Potter  
Setting: Hogwart's Witchcraft and Wizardry; January 26-27, 2003  
Point of View: omniscient   
Plot:  
This work begins with the entrance of our main protagonist, Hermione Granger. A dream sequence commences a ride of emotional turbulence- bitter, full of self-hatred, and loneliness. As Draco Malfoy is examined through his interaction with Pansy and Severus Snape, the reader notes the difference between the two: while Hermione's depression is internalized, Draco's is situational, i.e. his involvement with Death Eaters. He notices that Hermione approaches Gryffindor table and Harry Potter, and this interaction causes a rage to boil in Draco, though at the time he is not sure why he should even care. Snape cautions him to be aware of her, but not to overwhelm himself with her actions.  
  
Snape warns Hermione indirectly to be careful. Potions class commences and when Hermione consumes the Innocence Spell, she collapses. Draco and Harry fight over her, both obviously concerned for her well-being. Draco's suspicions of Snape's knowledge begin. After dropping Hermione off at the Hospital Wing, Severus contemplates her symptoms, he and Draco mainly fear Voldemort's doing in all of this. Hermione awakens, but is weak.   
  
When Snape returns to his classroom, he meets Paxia Devastarium, and they engage in sex. Through this connection, Paxia gains control over the developments between Draco, Harry, and Hermione. Draco and Harry duke it out again over Hermione, this time being broken up by Dumbledore. In the Hospital Wing, Draco and Hermione speak, and he voices his willingness to protect her and his reasons. Harry determines it would be best to avoid Hermione at all costs.  
  
Draco's affections towards Hermione are made known in Chapters Eight and Nine, and when the Dubious Potion is administered, their highly vulnerable hearts are torn by circumstance. Deciding that it would be easier to join the darker forces than fight against them, they make a pact to join the Death Eaters. Paxia, again through sex, manages to forge the same pact with Harry.  
  
In the climax of the story, Harry and Hermione are discovered as muggles attempting to claim the position of Purebloods, Draco and Hermione are bled by Voldemort, who uses the sacrificed body of Paxia to fight Harry Potter, who kills his lover, then kills Voldemort and Lucious Malfoy. Snape reincarnates Draco and Hermione, and they escape.  
  
The conclusion is the stripping of their titles and privileges at Hogwarts for higher statuses, and the discovery that Hermione is pregnant.  
  
Characters:  
  
1.Hermione Granger- seventeen year old 6th year student. Only true muggle to have ever been sorted into the strictly pure-blood Slytherin.   
  
2.Draco Malfoy- seventeen year old 6th year, destined to join the ranks of father Lucious as a Death Eater under Voldemort. Expresses concern over Hermione's sorting.   
Detests weaknesses of Harry as a part muggle. Closely confers with Severus Snape.  
  
3.Severus Snape- Potions Master and teacher. Has been a Death Eater for years. Close ties to Lucious, Voldemort, and therefore, Draco. When seduced by Paxia, all concern for anything other than Voldemort's revival dissipates.   
  
4.Paxia Devastarium- eighteen year old 7th year Slytherin. Seduces Snape, and sleeps with Harry Potter, sacrifices herself, and is reincarnated as the final enemy of Harry Potter on behalf of Voldemort's revival.   
  
5.Harry Potter- seventeen year old 6th year Gryffindor. Torn between house rivalries and friendship with Hermione. Destined rival to Voldemort. Seduced by Paxia, and attempts initiation into Death Eaters. Defeats Voldemort permanently.  
  
Symbols:  
  
6.Dream Sequence- meant to illustrate the idea that easy escapes aren't always the best choices in life. Both Hermione and Draco, even Harry, look towards suicide as a means of escape- but the dream dictates that they fail, and Hermione realizes that killing themselves isn't the answer.  
  
7.Spells and Potions- The Innocence Spell was merely a play on words, the spell was supposed to be harmless, and inflicted so much damage on Hermione. An elusion was made in Chapter 7 ("Damn Paxia's timing. If he had only known earlier, he would have never diluted the blends...") that Paxia had attempted to kill Hermione with a previous charm and that potion, but all that really mattered was that Hermione had survived because Paxia hadn't gotten to Snape early enough. The Dubious Spell was explained in Chapter 10, but basically it was Paxia being an out-right liar, telling the kids that it was an Attraction Elixir that would draw secret crushes together. When you have a crush on someone, you doubt their affections toward you, but since Hermione and Draco loved each other, they didn't doubt their love, so Hermione was "attracted" to Harry- her best friend and the one person she didn't understand at the time. Hope that clears that up.  
  
8.Latin Incantations (and Translations)- for obvious reasons, Latin is the easiest language to fit into a fic about magic, so here are the translations for Chapters 11 and 12, since those are the most important.....  
  
~ "Incidere per obtinere il liquidus de vita. Miscere corrumpere et purus. Destruere le donares et revivere il apostolos di guerre..." literally "Incision to obtain the liquid of life (blood). Mix of the corrupt and pure. Destroy the donors and revive the disciple of war." Hence, Hermione and Draco (corrupt and pure bloods respectively) were bled, and Paxia was revived.  
  
~ "Petrificus totalis" c'mon, that's a given! "Total Petrification"  
  
~ "Il che captare, collabi," literally "He who chases, collapses" which Harry called to Paxia, which made her stumble and fall while she ran towards him. I felt that Petrificus Totalis wouldn't work because it was too specific, hence the need for a wand. Since Harry didn't have his wand, by calling that chant out, anyone in the room that would have been after him would have collapsed, since it was only Paxia, it worked out quite nicely, didn't it?  
  
~ "Absorbere Vitalis." literally "Absorb Life" Snape's incantation to revive Draco and Hermione.  
  
Themes:  
  
9.Innocence- in every sense of the word, we are all innocent from the start. Corruption is an outside force that works its way in and can be purged. Innocence is not lost when purity is forsaken. It is always here.   
  
10.Corruption- the main theme of this fic. Through rivalries, sex, and money, corruption forces its way into our world- no matter how sheltered or isolated- but it can be purged. Even Snape realized his own innocence after witnessing Paxia for who she was. But even Paxia had her innocence.  
  
11.Femininity- Hermione is the quintessential doomed romantic, with her own inner strength. Paxia is the quintessential manipulative bitch, using sex to take what she wants. Both have a common bond however- both long for acceptance in a male-dominated society (i.e. Voldemort).  
  
12.Sex- powerful, potent. Sex is shared between two people, and it doesn't matter who is involved or how they got involved- a connection is created. You could fuck in a classroom, you could make love by the fire, sex is sex and the only thing that separates devastation from exuberance is intention. Be careful who you bed...it may come back to haunt you.   
  
13.Paxia Devastarium- did anyone get that or did it go over your heads? Literally, "Peace and Devastation." She was capable of love. She did feel awful after sleeping with Snape, didja catch the Moulin Rouge moment in Chapter 11?, but she knew her purpose in life, and she fulfilled it- which can be commendable. Keep reading, you'll understand my sympathy.  
  
Critique:  
  
So, you've read this far and think I'm nuts? Here's a quick list of me that covers this story. I AM HERMIONE GRANGER AND PAXIA DEVASTARIUM. Not J. K.'s version, don't get me wrong, but close enough. I am a hopeless romantic, but I know how to flirt your socks off. I long for the idea of a bad boy with a soft core. I don't need mush- I need strength. I wanna fuck, but cuddling would be nice too. That's why it stings when my reader's don't feel a little bit of pity for Paxia. Is she a self-righteous, manipulative, bitch? Of course. But somewhere in chapter five, having Snape right where she wanted him, she liked the idea of having that acceptance.   
  
I'm a thespian. I look into character backgrounds. I thought of Paxia as coming from a path of isolation, where the only man that ever accepted her was Voldemort, and she would do anything for him. When she talks to Harry at the end of Chapter 11? She did understand what he was going through! She knew what it was like to love someone and know that those feelings would never be reciprocated because of what she'd done. I know that too. Her actions were some of the most tense lines for me to write. Can you say therapy?! Lol. Besides, I've always liked the idea of getting with Snape...something about him is just so......hot. But Draco too....best solution is to just get both of them using my split personality. *LA- jealous yet?*  
  
As for the whole 'true to the books' thing, I've never read the books, but if you're going to age the characters this far, I think you can toss the books out of the window. Life at 17 is complicated as hell- as I'm sure most of you know. Being 17, I'm living proof. Want depth? I'm the school Freud. There are so many passages in this fiction that relate to me, its almost scary. Like I'm naked on the pages. This was my exposition....thanks for all the feedback, and don't stop sending me your thoughts! This is going to be up till they kick me off, so keep sending them. And be on the look out for my other fics, some of which are lighter- trust me. I do have my goof-ball romantic fluff moments after all. But I can't be half the writer I am without readers- so please review. I don't request flames, but hey, life is hell- a scorch or two won't kill me.   
  
The Beauty, The Pain, A Rose With Thorns. 


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